


Shiny-Spider: Into the Akkoverse. A Little Witch Academia / Spider-Verse Crossover

by EvaSkye



Category: Little Witch Academia, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossover, F/F, Falling In Love, Gen, Gwen Stacy is Spider-Man, Little Witch Academia - Freeform, Manga & Anime, Marvel - Freeform, Parallel Universes, Peter Parker isn't Spider-Man, Spider-Man Kiss, Spider-Verse, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2019-10-15 22:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 34,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17537591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvaSkye/pseuds/EvaSkye
Summary: Six months ago, Akko Kagari was bitten by a radioactive spider and became SHINY-SPIDER, the superhero that she always admired as a kid. However, when tragedy strikes, Akko has a crisis of faith. Fortunately the impossible happens, and Akko gets help from SPIDER-STAR, who is none other than Diana Cavendish!But this Diana is from another dimension. What happens when two people, joined by fate, decide to help each other fight crime and soothe their pain?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! 
> 
> So I saw this picture: (http://chicken-or-dickhead.tumblr.com/post/182230259331/bibinella-arigato-for-this-sick-commission) and the whole story exploded into my head all at once. 
> 
> Don't worry, if you're a fan of my other LWA work, I haven't stopped working on it. But this was too good a prompt to not do some work on. 
> 
> I'll be updating this one a little less frequently, but I do hope you enjoy! Please leave comments and tell me what you think!

Let's go over this one last time.

My name is Atsuko Kagari, and I'm the one and only Shiny-Spider.

But I wasn't always.

See, when I was a kid, there was another Shiny-Spider. She was graceful, and gorgeous, and always ready to lend a helping web to whoever needed it. By night, she was the protector of Nova York City. By day, she was an amazing entertainer, humanitarian, spokeswoman, and philosopher.

She was incredible.

She was everything I wanted to be when I grew up.

Especially after she saved me that one time.

But then, one day, without a word, she vanished.

A couple of her enemies tried to take credit for taking care of the Shiny-Spider, but the world knew better. No body was ever produced. No shocking revelation was made as to who Shiny-Spider really was.

One day she was here. The next she was gone.

People moved on. Just another person who had let down the city and the world. I once heard my dad say that "at least she wasn't caught up in a scandal or something."

I never gave up. I still had her lunchbox and backpack and pins even after it wasn't cool anymore. I still dressed up as her for Halloween in middle school, even though I got egged for it.

Shiny-Spider showed me how to be the best me. I wouldn't let a cynical world take that away .

And by some weird stroke of fate…I was rewarded.

It was a cold evening in October. I was walking home after a late-night at school, when I heard someone crying for help down an alleyway.

I may not be from Nova York City, but I'm smart enough to know that I should just keep looking ahead and walk faster. Maybe call the cops.

But that isn't what Shiny-Spider would've done.

I ran down that alley at full speed, yelling at the top of my lungs, swining fists around wildly. It was dark, and all I saw was movement. Trash cans were pushed over, I heard a woman cry out.

I tripped. I felt a leg by my hand, so I grabbed it and tried to use all of my strength to hold the person back. I was lifted high into the air, tossed into a dumpster. I fought back, jumping out of the dumpster and hurling myself at the shadow again.

I remember falling.

I remember the biting pain on my hand.

I remember someone whispering…something…

I don't remember getting home. My mom said that someone found me in the alley, still in my school uniform, and they called the cops. They brought me home, where I slept for two days. I hardly woke up, but when I did, I felt awful. Everything was too bright, too loud, too slow. I was dizzy and hot and nauseous.

I remember wondering if I was going to die. I wondered if somehow in the scuffle if I had gotten infected with something, or maybe I had hit my head so hard that my brain was bleeding out. I almost told my parents to bring me to the hospital.

And then I felt better.

Better than better, really. I felt great! And I _looked_ great too. I had some nice muscle definition, some killer abs, and I swore I grew an inch. I wasn't sure how it all happened, but I wasn't going to argue about my good luck.

I didn't realize I had been spidered until I was heading to school.

It was just the usual walk. I had my headphones in, bouncing along to the music. I waited at a crosswalk for the light to change, then an extra beat to make sure there weren't any rushing cars.

My classmate Amanda wasn't so cautious.

She was standing a few feet away, also in her own little world of music, and the moment the light changed, she stepped off the sidewalk.

I can't explain that moment very well, even though I remember it perfectly. Something split open in my mind, a sense that felt like it had always been there, but I couldn't use. The world slowed down, and I understood everything that was happening. I could see the stricken look on the bus driver's face. I could see Amanda's eyes shifting slightly to the left to spot the bus that was about to turn her into a pancake.

I grabbed her.

I jumped.

And before I knew it, we were both _on the top of the bus_.

The bus screeched to a halt. The bus driver got out, sure that he had just killed a girl.

"Whoah," Amanda had said. "The hell was that?"

I didn't have an answer back then.

The rest was pretty standard for a spider person. I accidentally got my hand stuck on Hannah England's locker, so she dumped a juice carton on me. I did the rope climb in PE in record time. I started understanding chemistry like never before - though I kept wondering how to make a substance that could turn from liquid to solid and still have enough tensile strength to hold a person.

And that was that. I found friends, got some webshooters, tried on a dozen different costume designs, and boom! The new Shiny-Spider.

 I've been Shiny-Spider for about six months now, and I love it. The people love it. And even Shiny-Spider's old enemies kinda love it. I mean, who was around to stop them before I came in, right?

But this isn't a story about me rising up to be the Shiny-Spider.

This is a story about fate.

This is a story about pain.

This is a story about love.

This is a story about believing in yourself.

And it starts with Diana Cavendish.


	2. Here comes the Shiny-Spider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko heads out to patrol Nova York City.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who left kudos and comments! I wasn't sure if this mashup would be well-received, but I'm glad to see so many people see the connection in the fandoms.

I go to Luna Nova Academy for Young Women.

It's an expensive, exclusive, experimental boarding school in Nova York City that collects young women from all over the world to learn together, hoping to build a global community and an extensive network of international women.

 _Luna Nova. The Future is Believing In Yourself_.

It's written in all the promotional pamphlets.

Anyway, while the whole "global community" is a nice idea, Luna Nova is pretty much what you'd assume about a school like this - a bunch of insecure teenage girls doing everything they can to prove they aren't insecure. Sometimes, like with Amanda, it turns into being really tough.

With Diana Cavendish, it's all about being perfect.

And she's pretty good at being perfect, honestly. Her blonde locks always tumble exactly where they need to be to look both heavenly and effortless. We all wear the same uniform, but for some reason it just fits her better - like hers is tailored. She's super-respected by just about everyone: the headmistress, the upperclasswomen, the professors, and most of the people in my class.

And what's not to respect or admire about her? She has great grades. She leads several committees. She's an accomplished dancer, both ballet and modern.

She's extremely rich. Or so they say.

When we first started school, Diana and I had our differences. Mostly I felt the burning need to call her out anytime she was being cruel. Which meant that I was pretty low on the social totem pole.

I used to have a hard time understanding bullies. I mean, everyone pretends to like you, and wants to be on your good side, but why? Because they're afraid of you? Because maybe they know something that everyone else doesn't, and maybe if you get on their "good" side you can be in on it too?

But then I started fighting crime.

And then bullies made all sorts of sense.

"Akko!"

"Ah, sorry Professor Ursula!"

I stop daydreaming to look up to the front of the classroom. Professor Ursula is not looking amused, peering over the top of her glasses with scarlet eyes. She pushes forward with her wheelchair until she's at the edge of the small raised platform at the front of the room.

"Stop daydreaming, please. I need you to come up to the front and solve this problem."

I get up and start looking at the math problem on the whiteboard. I can hear Hannah and Barbara giggle and mutter behind me, unaware that my spider-senses mean I can pretty much hear everything.

"O-m-g, she's such a ditz," Hannah says.

"I bet she was thinking about her next meal. She's such a pig, honestly."

"Ha ha, she is! I saw her eat a whole carton of ice cream yesterday."

"Oh God, she's so hopeless. Though…I wonder why she never gains any weight…"

"Barb, don't say nice things about her!" Hannah hisses.

"Ladies, quiet please," Ursula commands. They both sit up straight and fold their hands, like devils pretending to be angels.

I look at the clock.

I look at the math problem.

"Hmmm, solving for X huh? I wonder why it's always X. Is that a reference to pirate treasure or something, professor?"

"What?" Ursula takes a moment to spin her wheelchair around. "No, Akko, it's just a variable, it doesn't matter what it is."

"So I can change it?"

"I…I suppose if you insist."

"Great! I'm going to make it an A. You know, for Akko," I say with a sweet smile. I go through and erase all the Xs and replace them with As.

"Akko, can you just do the-"

The bell rings.

"Whoops! Guess we gotta finish tomorrow!" I say with a wink. I rush over to grab my bag, and I'm out of the classroom in a flash.

I hear Professor Ursula calling for me to come back, but I pretend I don't.

I run down the hallways, wondering why Diana didn't join in the mockery session. I mean, I didn't _enjoy_ what they said, but at least Diana's were usually smart and well-thought out.

Then I realize she hadn't been in math class. But wasn't she here earlier today?

I can't remember, and when I get to my dorm room I don't care.

"Going out?" asks my roommate, Lotte. She's such a sweetheart, and one of the few people that know that I'm the Shiny-Spider.

"You know it! The crime rate in Nova York City might be dropping, but it doesn't mean it's completely safe yet," I say, peeling off my uniform. I toss the blazer, tie, and shoes onto the lower bunk - my bunk. With spider-speed, I unbutton my blouse and shimmy out of my skirt.

Lotte blushes a little. She's so cute.

"Well, if it's quiet out there, maybe come back for movie night? They're playing this really sweet anime about a girl who wants to be a witch."

"Maybe," I say. "You going, Sucy?"

"Mmhmm. Lotte is making me," my other roommate, Sucy says. She has her face buried in a microscope. She absently reaches over to the corner of her desk, grabs a ring of small cartridges, and tosses them toward me. "Fresh batch."

"Thanks, babe. Totally owe you."

"You can start by not calling me babe ever again," Sucy says, her focus on her microscope. I grin at her and reach my foot under my bunk, sliding out a box.

My spider suit.

I _need_ to tell you about my spider suit.

The original Shiny-Spider had this great white suit with red and blue details, and a big gold diamond on her chest with a spider set inside it. When she wanted it to, it would sparkle and shine in the sunlight, bringing hope and inspiration to everyone who looked at her.

I didn't copy it. Partly because it was Lotte who was making it, partly because we didn't know what materials she used.

Still, mine is badass.

It's a dark, dark, dark midnight blue. Almost black, but still just a deep midnight blue. There are cool spider-web lines that go up and down the arms and back which are done in a subtle yellow. When I want it to, the whole suit lights up with that yellow light, making me look like a combination of a lightning storm and the swirling milky way galaxy.

I unabashedly say that I look great when the suit is going at full speed.

I slip myself into the suit and then tie my hair up as high and tight as it can go before I pull the mask on. At the bottom of the box are the webshooters, which encase my wrists easily.

These were from Constanze.

When Amanda figured out what happened that day on the bus, I was super nervous that the secret was going to get out. But Amanda had only told her roommates, and they agreed to keep it a secret.

Mostly because Constanze wanted an excuse to build me gadgets.

"Love you guys," I say as I push the window open.

"Be careful!" Lotte calls out.

"If you find anything weird, show it to me first," Sucy mumbles.

I fall backward out of the dorm window.

_Thwip!_

\--

I _love swinging_.

Nova York City is beautiful at night, and right now, in the middle of winter, we have a lot of night. The lights fill the world with an electric glow. The geometry of the buildings slices the sky into shattered fragments. The people teeming below, a steady steam rising from their breath.

I swing low through Times Square. Some tourists, in the middle of taking pictures of the buildings, turn to track me. I slow my swing, release the web, and float in the air, freefalling.

I pose.

At the last possible moment I _thwip_ out another line and continue my patrol.

"SHINY-SPIDER! YEAH!" I hear someone yell.

I love the attention, and the beauty of the city, but there's something primal about the swinging that gets me excited.

It's the almost-freedom.

I think flying would be too much freedom. Just rise up, go wherever you want? I mean, you can't appreciate that after a while, right? I can go wherever I want while walking, except for up. I take walking for granted all the time.

No, swinging is better because you have to work for it. The highs are temporary, the lows are inevitable.

It's special, because only I can do it.

But I fall, just like everyone else.

It keeps me grounded.

Ha ha, get it? Grounded.

_Thwip!_

I turn my leisurely swing around a tight corner and work on using momentum to pick up speed. My spider-sense is going crazy, and I have this feeling in my gut that I need to be somewhere else.

 _Now_.

\--

My spider-sense takes me to an empty parking lot under one of the subway bridges.

Figures. That's where the shady stuff always happens.

I swing to a nearby building, then opt to crawl along the wall the rest of the way. It's slower, but definitely quieter. I take a deep breath and focus on getting real still. The yellow lines, my eyes, and the bright golden spider on my back all dim. With the midnight blue suit, I'm practically invisible along the shadowy wall.

I love my spider suit. Did I mention that?

It doesn’t take long to assess the situation.

On one end is a fancy black towncar. An elderly man is standing by the car with an umbrella brandished in front of him. A girl is standing behind him, though I can't get a good look at her.

On the other side of this confrontation is Dragon.

Dragon is a fifteen foot tall…well, dragon. Not exactly a dragon, but more of a dragon-man. He has white scales and a white beard and is wearing an impeccably tailored black suit.

I wonder where he finds a tailor that deals with dragons.

In any case, Dragon is clearly unhappy about something, because there's a big ring of fire in the parking lot, and I don't think the old man's umbrella is what caused it.

"Now, about the matter of the _debt_ your family owes me," Dragon says with his affected transatlantic accent. "I've been very patient and kind over the years. I was tolerant of the situation when your parents died, and I have been…exceedingly patient, with your aunt. But I'm afraid the time for tolerance and patience has run out, and the time to pay the piper has begun."

Dragon shoots out another stream of flame, this time into the air.

"So what'll it be, Miss Cavendish?"

Diana!

Diana takes a step forward, gently nudging the old man aside.

"I…don't have the money. I'm sorry. But I cannot give you what I don't have. You could kill me, but then you would never get the money back. We both know my aunt is useless, but I am not. Let me finish school, get a job, and then I'll start paying you back."

"That'll be years from now," Dragon complains.

"I'm sure you'll still be alive to enjoy it. It is the only reasonable offer here. You should take it."

"I suppose there's some logic in what you say, Miss Cavendish," Dragon says. "Very well. I will allow you to live, and to get a job and to start paying me back."

Even at this distance, I can see Diana relax.

"But, I need you to take me seriously. So I'll just splat the old man."

"No!"

Dragon is big but he's also fast. His arm snatches the old man by the leg before he can even bring his umbrella down to defend himself. Dragon casually flings his arm upward and releases the old man at the apex.

Diana is repeating "no no no no!" over and over again.

The old man hardly knows what's going on, other than that he's now soaring through the air.

"Show time," I say.

I leap high and spread both hands out. I click the correct combination of switches on the webshooters, and a wide spray of web comes _thwipping_ out. The web is wide, and hangs like a hammock between a street lamp and the nearby building. The old man falls only a foot before he's caught into the web, safe and sound.

Dragon looks over at the old man, then realizing that it had to be shot from somewhere, turns to look at me.

_Blam!_

Just in time for my foot to connect with his snout.

Dragon recoils and stumbles, and I land in a low crouch, the pose made famous by Shiny-Spider in the old days.

"Don't you know how to respect your elders? Oh, sorry, I forgot, you probably _are_ the elder," I quip.

I love quipping. I love it almost as much as swinging.

"Shiny-Spider, stay out of this. It's a business transaction, nothing more."

"Sorry, but I'm afraid you're not on my list of approved loan officers. If you want, I can help you go downtown to fill out the paperwork - the clerk there, Gene, is a friend of mine, so we can get fastracked! It should only take you two or three hours to-"

Dragon roars and slams his fist at me. I'm already off the ground and swinging my hips around to drive another kick into his face. The blow connects, and I can tell it stings him, but that's about it. I'm not going to be able to simply punch my way out of this one.

"Stop moving!" Dragon yells. He reaches over to the side wall, and hefts up a dumpster in his hands. He throws it at me with all of his strength. It's an easy thing to jump over, but my spider-sense kicks in.

Behind me.

Diana is standing by the car, and directly in the path of the dumpster.

I turn and _thwip_ two lines of web onto the car, and pull hard. The tensile pull is enough to propel me across the distance just a little faster than the dumpster.

I scoop her up.

I jump as high as I can.

 _Thwip_!

The dumpster crashes into the car with a tremendous sound. Glass sprinkles all across the parking lot. Metal screeches and twists.

But I'm already on the roof of the next building, Diana in my arms.

"Shiny…Spider…" she says, her eyes wide, her chest heaving breathlessly.

Damn, she looks good like this. I mean, I always knew she looked good but…

"Are you okay, miss?" I say, trying to make my voice sound as stereotypically Nova Yorker as possible.

"Yes, I think so."

"Good. You stay here, I'm gonna go slay a dragon."

"I…okay. Will you come back for me?"

"Of course, miss," I say.

I watch her as I walk backwards to the edge of the building. Her hair and eyes catch the neon light of the city and reflect it back to me brighter and more beautiful than ever.

Damn, what is getting into me?

Maybe punching the Dragon will clear my head.


	3. Swing Through the City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko battles the Dragon. Shiny-Spider shows Diana her view of Nova York City.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to apologize.
> 
> In the last chapter, I wrote "I love quipping. I almost love quipping as much as I love swinging." 
> 
> I SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN "I love quipping. I love quipping almost as much as I love thwipping." 
> 
> I will forever live with this shame.

Dragon and I have done this dance before.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being archnemesis and 1 being best friend, he rates around a 6. I mean, he's a bad guy, don't get me wrong. But he's at least reasonable. Sometimes you can just talk to him and he'll give up.

Maybe he wants a friend?

More likely, he wants to stay out of jail.

But in any case, Dragon is dangerous really because of his money and influence. I mean, yeah, being fifteen feet tall with enormous strength and the ability to breathe fire is dangerous, but it's honestly not his strong suit. I don't think he works out his dragon-ness very much.

I could probably just swing around in circles and wait for him get tired.

But unfortunately, that would cause a lot of property damage, so I gotta take him out faster than that.

I swing down and land right in front of him. He's lost his temper now, and smoke is gusting out of his nostrils in great billowing clouds.

"I've had it with you, bug! We finish this, now!"

He swings with heavy hands, _woosh, woosh, woosh_ , one after the other. Even though visibility is terrible, my spider-sense is more than enough to keep a step ahead of him. He swings into empty air five, six, seven times before he gets frustrated.

He lets out a roar - more dragon than man this time - and rams his strike straight at me.

I lean back and hold out my arms.

I get the distancing perfect, moving far enough back so that the strike doesn’t hurt me, but close enough that I can stick myself to his arm. When he recoils, I'm attached to him.

"Get off!"

He flings his arm upward, just like when he tossed the old man. I let him throw me, soaking in all the momentum I can from his powerful arm.

_Thwip!_

Both webs launch out and connect to the back of his shoulders. I let the webs extend a few feet, then tighten them. The momentum from Dragon's throw is reversed, and I come barreling back at him like a cannonball.

Both feet, extended out, right at the back of his neck.

It's enough to slam Dragon forward and into the ground. I press hard down on the webshooters, coating his neck and head with as much web as I can in the first second. I then jump high into the air, and unleash a flurry of _thwips_.

Webs are around his wrists, ankles, elbows, and knees, all trying to keep him pinned to the parking lot.

I land in the parking lot beside him. That was a _lot_ of web, but I’m not sure it's enough. I click a switch on my right webshooter, ejecting the nearly-empty cartridge. I reach down to my belt, which has the reloads, and flick one into the air.

I catch it, and look at it, just to make sure.

The normal cartridges are white, but this one is purple. It also has sticker that Sucy made: a tiny, chibi version of herself holding a mushroom with a speech balloon.

"Nap time," says Chibi-Sticker-Sucy.

I load it.

"Looks like you've had kind of a rough night, Dragon. But a good night's sleep will make everything seem better."

The web comes out in a long blanket and covers him from head to toe. To shoot that much web in one shot like that makes it too thin to hold many things down, especially a guy like Dragon.

But the purple webbing does what Sucy promised. As he struggles against it, it starts to melt away on his skin.

And then he stops struggling.

The smoke slows from his nostrils.

Wait, is he _dead?_ Did Sucy make some sort of poison web?!

Then I hear Dragon snore.

"I better double check the chemistry on this web later…" I mutter, replacing the sleep webbing with a fresh cartridge.

"Shiny-Spider!" Diana calls out from the roof. "Are you okay?"

I zip up to the rooftop and land next to her. I must land a little too close, because Diana recoils, startled.

"Don't worry about it, miss. Dragon-slaying is all part of the Shiny-Spider neighborhood watch program."

She laughs, and blushes at the same time, though I'm not sure if it's from me, the adrenaline of being attacked, or the cold winter air. Whatever the reason, the rosiness on her pale cheek is really working for her in the night lights of Nova York City, and I feel my heart jump.

"Thank you for saving me," she says, taking a half-step forward. My heart is speeding up more.

"Ah, well, just your friendly neighborhood Shiny-Spider."

"Excuse me, miss! Can you please get me down?"

We both look over to the old man, who is still laying in the web hammock.

"We better make sure you're not so high up," I say to Diana. "Pardon my reach."

I slip my arm around her waist. She reaches around my neck, instinctively, holding on. Diana has such a nice slim figure, and she feels soft against my side and all of a sudden my head is filled with a heady cloud of exhilaration and excitement.

I almost forget to use the webshooter when we jump off.

I set Diana down and then swing up to help her driver out. I set him down too, and lead him away from the dying flames and the wreck that was their car. We stop at the sidewalk.

"Maybe you better call someone?" I suggest.

"Yes, yes. Can you watch over the young mistress while I do?"

"Sure thing," I say, and stride back to the scene.

Diana is surveying it, eyes wide and face drawn and worried.

"Miss, we better not stay here, I'm not sure how long Dragon is going to be asleep. The cops will be by soon, but Dragon has good lawyers and it won't stick."

"Diana," she says. "You can call me Diana."

I'm relieved that I don’t have to keep up the "miss" charade anymore.

"Come on, Diana, your driver is calling someone."

"Can you take me home?" she says suddenly, spinning around. Her gaze is locked straight at the wide spider-eyes of my suit, but they feel like they're diving straight into my soul.

"I'm sure the car will be safe, Diana. But if you want, I can follow you for a bit-"

"No," she says, rushing forward. She takes my hand and slides it around her waist, and then leans into me. "Like this."

My heart is pounding in my ears, and I think I’m getting turned on by the whole thing. I didn't know Diana Cavendish, princess of cool, queen of aloof, the frigid ruling monarch of Luna Nova could be so _thirsty_. But honestly, I'm feeling the same way right now, and I'm not one to question fate.

I mean, fate did make my dreams come true, right?

"Sure," I whisper. "It can get cold up there, though."

"Then hold me tighter."

God. Damn.

I hold her with one arm, my enhanced strength enough to lift her slender frame to my side. I _thwip_ up and into the air, and swing low and slow by the old man.

"I'm gonna give her a lift home, old man! Don't worry, I'll keep her safe!"

\--

I've never swung with someone else for fun before.

I've done it to save people, sure. But it never occurred to me to share this thing that I love so much with someone.

And I really, really, liked it.

I started slow, just so she got used to the rhythm of it. I remember how strange my first time was, how exciting but frightening it was at the same time. I had wished at the time that someone could explain how to do it so I didn't feel like I was going to lose control.

I was glad I could do it for Diana.

"This is incredible," Diana said into my ear. "It's like…flying, but not."

"You want to go faster?"

"Yes," she said, her voice almost a moan.

I pull up on the next line and gain some height, then let ourselves drop for a long stretch. Diana's arms tighten around me, and I feel her legs wrap around my thigh. I _thwip_ the next webline.

We soar.

 _Thwip, thwip, thwip_ , we pick up speed, the buildings and billboards rushing by, the traffic beneath us turning into a streaking river of light. The car horns, music, and conversations of the crowd turn into a cloud of sound.

My spider-senses are working on overdrive. I feel Diana's heartbeat as clearly as I can feel my own. It pounds in her chest, between the gentle softness of her breasts against my body. When we swing faster, it beats faster.

"How's that?" I ask.

"It's incredible!" she says, squeezing her arms to hug me. "Do more! More!"

I point us toward a bridge, land the webbing at the exact spot I need it to. We loop underneath the bridge, and all the way around until we're flinging through the air back the way we came. I twist my body around, spinning Diana with me.

I look to see if she's having fun.

But I find that she's looking at me.

"Do you trust me?" I ask as we rise up on our next swing.

"Yes."

"How much?"

"With everything," she says. And I'm really confused by this, but I can tell she's completely sincere. I don't know why she believes in me so much. Maybe it's because I saved her life.

But I believe her.

"Get ready," I say.

We drop to gather speed, then swing high.

And I release her.

Diana knew what was coming, because she is ready to soar when I let her go. Her dancer's body is so lithe and graceful in the air. She has her arms spread wide, her legs pointed. Her eyes are wide open, her mouth agape in wonder and awe.

She is beautiful in that moment. An angel falling from heaven.

I catch her, carrying her bridal style. We take two more long swings and then finally come to a stop.

Diana stumbles out of my arms and falls onto a chaise lounge on the penthouse balcony. Her hair is mussed and tousled, her clothes are disheveled, her cheeks flushed, her eyes are dilated. She's breathless, and glowing, and happy and gorgeous.

"Wow."

"Glad you enjoyed yourself. I've never given someone a ride for fun before," I say. I feel awkward just standing there in my spider suit, so I hop onto the railing of the penthouse balcony and start balancing back and forth.

"Is it okay for us to be here?" Diana said, suddenly realizing where we were.

"The tenants aren’t here most of the year. They said I could stop off if I needed a breather."

I mean, that was _sort of true_. The tenants were my parents, who were back in Japan. They used the apartment for when they came to visit, and they did leave me a key to stay here if I wanted, though I almost never did. Too lonely.

Diana took a few deep breaths and smoothed out her clothes. Some of the composure of the Diana I knew came back into her face.

"I apologize for being so forward and for asking for a ride. I suppose you had more important things to do."

"No, no, it was…fun," I say. It's an odd admission, but it's true. It was fun. A lot of fun.

I want to do it again.

"Can I ask _you_ a question, Diana? Why did you trust me so much?"

"Because you're Shiny-Spider," she says. She smiles, a little embarrassed. "I've been an admirer for a long time, since I was a little girl. But…you're not her, are you? The one that disappeared ten years ago?"

"No, I'm not."

I stop pacing on the rail and crouch down on the rail to face her.

"I figured. I mean, you don't have the same costume, and you're a few inches shorter, and your tricks aren't exactly the same. Can I ask what happened to her? The previous Shiny-Spider?"

"I don't know. I never met her. But I was an admirer of hers too, and I thought…I don't know, that she made me a better person. And then when this happened to me," I say, gesturing to myself, "I found myself suddenly in a position where I could do what she did. It was a dream come true, honestly."

"I know what you mean. I feel the same way. I still feel the same way. When you came back…or, rather, when you became Shiny-Spider, I was so happy. The world had seemed so much grimer without her. Without you. You've brought back hope to a lot of people."

"Ha, do you check Twitter or Insta or the news?" I say, a little bitterness seeping into my voice.

"They're just looking for views and likes. It was the same with the previous Shiny-Spider. But the common people, they love you. They love what you represent."

She stands up.

"I…feel like I know you. I can't explain it, but…"

I am Shiny-Spider. I fight bad guys. I save the city. I hurtle my body at buildings for fun.

And yet I have _no idea what to do in this moment_.

Fortunately, a siren wails nearby, and I turn my head out of reflex. When I turn to look at Diana, she has a knowing, understanding look.

"I should get you back to Luna Nova," I say.

"How did you know I go to Luna Nova?"

Diana, still in her school uniform, is also still wearing her school blazer underneath her coat. I point at the Luna Nova coat of arms.

"Oh, of course," she says.

The swing isn’t too long back. Soon I've deposited her down in the side alley by a nearby building. The nearby sidewalk is well-lit and there are cameras near the school, so she'll be safe. But I don't really want a bunch of people seeing Shiny-Spider hanging around school if I can avoid it.

"Goodnight, Diana," I say, and zip back up toward the roof.

"Wait, Shiny-Spider!"

I grab onto the top of the roof, pivot on my hand, and attach a web to the fire escape. I descend, hanging upside down, until I'm face to face with Diana.

"Don't I get to say thank you?"

She steps towards me. Her hands reach up and brush by jawline, her fingertips searching for the edge of my mask.

I want this.

I want this so bad.

She finds it. Her fingers curl underneath the edge and she starts to roll the fabric away.

"Wait," I say. My hand has hers. She's confused, a little hurt.

"You can't know who I am. It's too dangerous, I have too many enemies."

"I understand," she says.

Then she lowers the mask, just enough so that my mouth is uncovered. The cold bites against my lips. I lick them, just to make sure.

She leans forward.

We kiss.

I've never kissed anyone before, but I know right then and there that nothing will ever be better than that one. I feel excitement, and pleasure, and a sudden need for more, and a tender happiness settling in my belly. All of this strikes me at once, and I almost lose grip of the web.

She kisses me again, and again, our lips moving delicately with each other.

She pulls back, and smiles.

And I zip up into the sky.

"Wooohoooo!" I yell.

I hear Diana giggle below.

 


	4. A Friend With Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko and Lotte talk about Akko's new feelings for Diana. Lotte pines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to all of you with unrequited love.
> 
> I see you. 
> 
> Sorry if this is too relatable.

I get back around 5 AM.

School doesn't officially start until 8:30, so I have a little time. But I'm so very, very revved up that I don't think I'll be sleeping.

I swung around all night thinking about Diana. Her words, her touch, her kiss.

Oh God I'm in love, aren't I?

This is all really new to me, and in a lot of ways, even scarier than when I was first learning about my spider powers. Is this love? What is love supposed to feel like? Or am I just infatuated and horny?

I mean, it's _Diana_. Diana whom battles me at every chance we get, who relentlessly mocks me behind my back, in front of my face, and to every person who'll lend an ear. Diana whom I've spent the last year _hating_.

Or was that attraction disguising itself as hate because I didn't think I could have her?

Or was that some weird mixed emotion of hate and love? Like…hote or lave?

Then I remember that Diana didn't kiss me. She kissed Shiny-Spider.

Akko Kagari is not Shiny-Spider.

"Oof," I mutter as I struggle to get the suit off. This latest version has greatly improved on the sweat wicking, and the chaffing, but sometimes it's sticky at the end of the night. Not to mention that I'm feeling a little sore from the battle with Dragon. It's weird how you can somehow dodge all the attacks and still come out from it a little battered, but supervillains swing with a crazy amount of force.

"Akko?" I hear Lotte whisper. She sits up from her bunk, the bed above mine, and puts on her glasses.

"Hey, sorry. Just got back."

"That's all right. You know I like to wake up early."

She clicks on her bed light so I can see a little better. Sucy is sleeping in the third bed on the other side of the room. I don't really need to worry about waking her up - she'd sleep through the end of the world.

"Do you need help?" Lotte asks.

"Sure."

She hops down, clad in her adorable little night dress. She steps behind me and helps peel the suit off from my back. I step out of it, enjoying the cool air on my skin. She turns it inside out to air it out. I move my arms around, grimacing at a pain in my shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"Just bruised a little, I think. Maybe pulled it? I had to outrun a car thrown by Dragon earlier tonight. It was quite a zip-pull."

"I can massage it, if you want."

"That's okay, you know it'll heal itself in a couple of hours."

"I'd still like to help."

She sounds so sincere, and honestly, it would feel good. I shrug and sit down on my bed.

"Okay, thanks Lotte."

I reach back and unclip my bra. If you think undoing your bra from a day at school feels good, you should try it after a night of fighting crime. I stretch out and enjoy the air. I look up at Lotte.

She's blushing, turning her face away from me, but kinda peeking out of the corner of her eyes.

"Lotte, they're just _boobs._ You have boobs. I thought the Finns were cool about casual nudity."

"I…yes well…uh. It's…" her voice keeps getting quieter and quieter until it's so quiet that I'm not sure I would've heard it without my spider senses.

" _It's just that they're your boobs…"_

I turn to the side on my bed and she settles down to sit behind me. I look down at my boobs. What was wrong with them? Were they weird? I thought they were pretty nice, but obviously they had been noticeable to Lotte, for some reason. I mean, they were kinda small, and they got a little smaller when I got my powers because I got leaner. Was that it? Were my spider-boobs odd?

I wonder what Diana would think of them.

"Ohh…that's really good, Lotte…" I moan as she presses her fingers into me.

"Y-yeah?"

"Mmhmmm…keep going…"

She does, and for a minute I luxuriate in her skillful massage. I sorta want her to do it until I fall asleep, but my mind keeps circling back around to Diana.

"Do you think it's weird if a girl falls in love with another girl?" I ask.

"W-what? Why would you ask that?" Lotte says, her massage suddenly much harder, her voice going frantic.

"Oh, uh, do you not like…believe in that?"

"No, no no! I just…I..." she takes a deep breath. "I think it's beautiful, actually. Because it's rare. It's different, so it's special. That's how I think of it, anyway."

"Wow, that's lovely, Lotte. I never thought about it like that…"

Her hands softened around my shoulders.

"But what if the girl is someone you've known for a long time? What if you…I don't know, got off on the wrong foot. What if you made the wrong impression, and now you're not sure you can change it?"

I heard Lotte swallow, then take a deep breath.

"It's never too late for a relationship to turn into something new. Not if you put your whole heart into it. And for someone like you, Akko…well, you're really special. And not just because you're Shiny-Spider. Because you have a huge heart, and a passion for justice, and you always see the best in people, even the villains you fight."

"Any girl you loved would be really, really lucky…"

"Geez, Lotte…I don't know if Diana thinks about all that…"

"D-Diana?!"

I turn around, frowning. "Yeah, Diana. Oh, right, I didn't tell you what happened."

So I did. For some reason Lotte wasn't quite as attentive as she usually is when I'm telling my spider-stories. Maybe it was because it was so early in the morning. Her massage kept going, though.

"So you…kissed?"

"Yeah. And it was so amazing, Lotte. I mean, I never really thought about whether I was gay or straight or somewhere in between before. I guess that sounds pretty odd, but I dunno, I never felt strongly for anyone until tonight. But…I mean, these feelings are pretty intense. So I guess that means I'm a lesbian now, huh?"

"You don't have to label it if you don't want to," Lotte says. "Maye just see where this goes and make a decision from there. But you know, you shouldn't make any rash decisions."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I just mean that you and Diana have had a rough past, and maybe it wouldn't be so easy to change her perspective without telling her that you're Shiny-Spider. And do you really want to tell _more_ people?"

"But what if she doesn't know? What if she falls in love with Akko, not Shiny-Spider? What about that big speech you said about how I'm special?"

"That speech was-…" Lotte cuts herself off again. I turn around now, frowning, a little concerned. Lotte isn't the most eloquent person, but she's really stammering hard today. And I can hear her heart pounding like a war drum.

"Lotte, is there something wrong?"

We stare at each other a moment. Her big blue eyes behind those owl frame glasses. She's just so cute and adorable, and I'm so lucky to have her as my friend, so if there's something I can do to help her, I'll do it.

"Do you need me to do something? Cause you know I'll do anything for you."

"Anything?" she whispers.

"Yeah, anything. I mean, not kill someone, but you wouldn't ask for that. You're not asking for that, are you?"

She shakes her head. "No, no. I don't need anything. But I still think you need to keep your identity a secret, at least until you get to know her better and you know you can trust her."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. I guess I'll just have to put on the Atsuko Kagari charm!" I flex, topless, and give my bicep a kiss, then wink at Lotte. She turns flush again.

I hug her.

"Thanks, Lotte. You're the best."

"Anytime," she says, her voice sounding a little strange.

"Say, are you feeling okay? Maybe you should go back to bed, you look really red."

"Yeah," Lotte says. "I think I'll go back to bed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO IS LEAVING ME A COMMENT! I'm going to reply to each and every one of you soon, I promise. I've just been putting all of my spare energy and time into writing this fic as fast as possible because it's just so much fun. 
> 
> But you are loved and appreciated! I get SO PSYCHED to see a comment in my inbox, so thank you, thank you, thank you!


	5. Flirting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko tries to make a connection with Diana. The Green Team helps Akko.

Despite Lotte's kind words, the truth is, Akko Kagari is a hot mess.

Being Shiny-Spider is _way easier_. Put on the suit, swing, wave at the fans, beat up a few bad guys, pose for a selfie. Sometimes there's a convoluted mystery to solve. Sometimes I argue with the police.

I know how to be Shiny-Spider. I know who she is.

But without the suit, I'm just a dumpster fire of a person. And I wish I could tell you that it was all a cunning plan - a way to hide my secret identity from the world. _"Akko, the Shiny-Spider? No way, have you seen how awkward she is?"_

But that's just not true. I guess, when it comes down to it, I'm still not exactly sure who Akko Kagari is.

I'm going to stop talking in third-person now.

I see Diana during first period, flanked as always by her two friends. It's painful to look at her now, especially with the memory of her lips fresh on my mind.

"Hey, Diana!" I call out to her when class ends. She stops at the door and turns to face me. Her demeanor is cold and imperious, and she doesn’t say a word.

"How are you…?" I say. I realize as I talk that this is very out of character. Diana might spend most of her time making fun of me, but I _never_ talked to her, unless it was to make a point or to shoot back at her insults.

"What do you want, Akko?" she demands.

"Nothing! Just…saying hey."

Hannah and Barbara give me a coordinated look of confusion mixed with an eye roll. Diana turns around, wordlessly, and strides away.

\--

My next attempt comes at third period. Professor Babcock, our history teacher, is sitting at the front of the room, poised on her stool as usual.

"So in order to best understand the political and historical contexts of Europe leading up to the beginning of World War II, you'll be doing an advanced research project. And, you will have a research partner. You may choose a partner, but you cannot have groups of three. If you girls can't negotiate the pairs, I'll choose them for you. Quickly now."

The class starts to bustle as the girls scan the room. I get up immediately and sit in the empty desk next to Diana.

"Want to be partners, Diana?" I ask, putting on my biggest smile. Again, Diana looks incredulous.

"Aren't you being a little transparent, Akko?"

My heart skips the next three beats. What does she mean by that? Has she figured out I'm the Shiny-Spider? Or is she just calling me out for hitting on her?

"I don't know what you mean," I say, trying to sound offended.

"I have no intention of being partners with you. You'll just slack off while I do all the work."

She gets up once again and walks away. I sink into the seat and put my head on the desk.

"Geez, I didn't even think of that…is my reputation really that bad?" I mutter to myself.

"I'll be your partner, Akko," Lotte says cheerily.

"Not now, Lotte."

\--

It occurs to me later in the day that maybe my problem is approaching Diana in public. After all, I was shocked last night to see how different she was outside of class. She obviously had a reputation to protect, and she seemed to always be flanked by Hannah and Barbara.

So all I had to do was wait for her to be alone.

Fortunately, I didn't have to wait very long.

"Hey Diana!" I say, sitting beside her on the bench in the locker room. P.E. has just finished. She doesn't say anything, but she looks flustered.

Now's my chance!

"You did great out there today in volleyball," I say, sliding a little bit closer to her on the bench.

"Um…Akko, I'm in the middle of changing…"

"Oh, I know," I say, smiling brightly. I should probably compliment her, right? I need to get her to think about me differently.

"I love your bra," I say. "It's gorgeous! Especially on you."

Her bra is a silky white with satin blue embroidery along the underside of the cups that were shaped like roses. 

It vanishes a moment later as Diana crosses her arms. I look up to see her eyes are wide and embarrassed, her cheeks a little rosey. I can't tell if she's flattered or offended. I don’t think she knows either.

"Akko, are you… _hitting on me?_ " Diana whispers, leaning forward.

"I…uh…"

"Don't. Please."

She slips on the blouse to her uniform and turns her back to me to finish dressing.

\--

"I really blew it," I groan, laying on the cold cement floor.

"It can't be as bad as you're making it out to be," Amanda says. She's spinning a staff in her hands over and over again. She's spinning it fast enough to be dangerous, but she's so flawless at the motion that it seems like she's barely trying.

"I'm surprised she didn't turn me in for sexual harassment at the locker room. What was I thinking, trying to compliment her _underwear?_ Ugh."

"She doesn’t have the same context as you. You already made out, but she doesn’t know that. It's a pretty weird situation," Amanda says. "But hey, the fact that she didn't turn you in means something. Hell, the fact that she _whispered_ to you about hitting on her means something."

"What do you mean?"

"Look, we go to an all-girls school. Half of the school is either lesbian or bi and is hooking up with each other, and yet because this place is so hoity-toity everyone _hides it_. You get called a 'dyke' in public, everyone turns against you either because they really are ignorant rich assholes, or because they're so afraid of being found out that they'll ridicule anyone else."

Amanda has a point, I've seen it done before. Diana's friend Hannah is the biggest perpetrator of this, even though everyone knows Barbara and Wangari have been hooking up for a year. Everyone except Hannah, it seems.

"Diana spared me…" I say.

"Yeah. She was protecting you, even though you two are always bickering. And it wasn’t like she said you were gross, she said to not hit on her. Maybe it's just because she pines for Shiny-Spider. Loyalty is a good trait in a partner."

I roll over on the floor to look up at Amanda. "You're awfully positive and cheery about all of this."

She shrugs. "What can I say, I'm a big ball of fucking sunshine. Cons, Jas, you guys ready?"

There's a clang of iron against iron. I look over to see Jasminka setting her barbells down and stretching her arms above her head. Jasminka has to be the strongest person I know. She's average height, but she is _ripped_. I think she wants to go into competitive bodybuilding and powerlifting. At the moment, she's wearing a sports bra and workout shorts. She seems to have a permanent smile, and dabs her face with a towel before she picks up a pair of MMA-style fighting gloves.

"What's the challenge for today?"

"Constanze has been whipping something up. You'll see," Amanda says, readying her staff.

I turn around to look at Constanze, but instead my head is suddenly enveloped in a big metal bowl. It's not exactly a helmet, since it doesn’t fit my head. But there are a lot of strange electronic components inside of it. It looks sort of like lightbulbs and a speaker but I'm not sure-

_WHAM_

I'm hit with a massive blast of light and sound, and the world starts to spin. I feel the bowl come off my head, and the world is a mottled mixture of black afterimages. I'm dizzy from the sound waves.

A normal person would be down for the count, but I'm just relying completely on my spider sense to understand what's going on. Amanda is rushing with her staff, spinning it with precision strikes, aiming for my kneecaps and throat. I jump and turn myself completely horizontal, floating a moment while Amanda's strikes pass harmlessly below and above me.

I land in a crawl position and am about to pounce forward at Amanda when my back ankle is grasped. Jasminka has me, and she pulls hard to take me off the ground. Before I can react, she is already spinning in rapid circles. She throws me at the wall.

Again I twist my body, and land on the wall in a crawling stance, willing my body to stay stuck to the side. I look up, the world starting to take dull, gray shapes, to see Amanda's staff thrusting at my back.

The blow connects, I yelp, and lose my concentration on the wall, rolling off of it. The minute I'm on the ground, Amanda's foot connects to my ribs, hard. The blow is enough to raise me off the ground a few inches, and I use the moment to get on my feet in a low crouch.

Automatically, I make the motion to fire a web to trip Amanda's legs - but I forgot this was a no-web spar. Amanda punishes me for the mistake by cracking me across the face with the butt of her staff. I'm sprawled onto the ground again.

Ouch. Amanda really is a tough cookie.

I roll onto my back. Amanda is above me, staff poised to thrust into my belly. I let her do it, and let the pain wash over me.

She's about to pull the staff up again and repeat the strike, but her hands slip. This is because I'm using my sticking powers to attach my belly to the staff. She stumbles, and I raise up to slide my foot under her stumbling. She trips and falls backward while I stand up with the staff.

Jasminka is already charging me. I throw the staff at her like a javelin, but she catches it, then breaks it in half, tossing the halves aside. When she's about to grasp me, I leap high onto the ceiling. She rushes past, and I drop down on top of her, legs wrapped around her neck. I use my weight to steer her into the wall, and let the force of her do the rest.

I stand in the center while they pick themsleves up.

"Nice work," Jasminka says, rubbing her head.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Nothing a snack won't fix," she says. Amanda is holding her staff pieces.

"Man, Jas, this was my favorite one…"

"Keep telling you…metal…" Constanze says, her voice barely audible. I look to see the tiny girl working on the helmet that was on my head. She's taking the components out.

We're in the sub-basement of the school. It's mostly storage, but we found that nobody uses it. Here is where Constanze stores her illicit gear, and we train together to amp up my battle skills. The helmet is just another in a long line of handicaps Constanze has invented to keep the fighting fair.

Without this, I probably would've lost an important fight a long time ago. Spider-powers are great, but they don't help if you don't know how to fight. Amanda has been critical in teaching me that.

"I should go patrol. I need to clear my head. But thanks girls."

"New…suit…" Constanze says, pointing at the wall. "Command word, spider-shine."

"Huh, thanks Constanze. I'll tell you how it goes."  


	6. An Ever Thickening Plot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andrew shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg, so sorry to all of you Lotte fans! I know she's going through a rough spot, but it'll make sense!...I hope. 
> 
> Just know I take no pleasure in torturing the kindest and most innocent of witches, waaaah D;

"That's my purse!"

That's my cue.

I'm swinging along downtown. Downtown Nova York is the business district, where some of the most powerful businesses in the world have their headquarters. But, at this time of night, it's actually pretty quiet and empty. The few people that live down here live in junky apartments, and are usually the kind of people cleaning the offices, rather than working in them.

Which is why when people here get robbed, it makes me especially angry.

I turn my swing and swoop lower towards the alleyway. An older Hispanic woman, wearing a uniform from a maid service, is cursing in Spanish, chasing down her attacker as fast as her heavy frame can manage. Unfortunately, the thief is thin and young and moving way too fast for her.

But not way too fast for me.

I turn upside down my web, and start swinging backwards. I extend my other hand, take careful aim and…

_Thwip!_

The web splays out and entangles his arms and torso. He yelps, but doesn't have much chance to do anything else. I've already released my first web and am soaring above a nearby street lamp. I drape the web attached to the pursesnatcher on the top of the lamp, and then let myself fall. The lamp acts as a pulley, raising him up as I'm coming down.

I punch him in the face once as we pass each other.

Knocked out, he releases the purse, which I catch as I land on the ground.

 _"Esto es tuyo?_ " I say in my horrific Spanish accent.

"Si, yes, thank you Shiny-Spider!" she says, taking the purse. She reaches down and picks up a discarded half-drunk Gatorade bottle and throws it at the hanging thief.

We both laugh.

"That'll show him," I say. "Now, head home."

She thanks me again and rushes off to do just that. I look up at my handiwork, feeling a little bit better from my total failures with Diana earlier.

This is why I love being Shiny-Spider. To be a part of the neighborhood. To right the little wrongs that go unpunished everyday. To try and make connections with other people, even though my Spanish is terrible.

 _Click_.

I feel metal pressed against the back of my head.

"Impressive work. Very efficient," a cool male voice says.

"Are you threatening with a stapler, Detective Hanbridge?"

I turn around. The young detective, clad in a very stereotypical trenchcoat over a suit that is entirely too expensive, lowers the stapler and puts it in his pocket.

"Are they still not letting you carry a gun?" I say, a little taunt in my voice.

"Maybe I just don't want to carry one. Or maybe I wanted to see if your senses were attuned enough that you could feel a stapler from a single touch."

Damnit.

Detective Andrew Hanbridge is something of a police prodigy. He's only 18 years old, but he's been solving crimes since he was 11. The first one he solved from just watching a news report on TV.

We've…worked together.

Which is not a bad thing, honestly. My reputation with the police is complicated at best and antagonistic at worst. Despite all the good I do, there are those who think I just get in the way, that I encourage criminals to get more and more daring, and that I leave too many loopholes for the richer criminals to get out on technicalities.

Hanbridge is at least cordial. Even if every time we talk it feels like he's trying to get an exact understanding of my spider powers.

I _thwip_ up and start hanging upside down in front of him, just to remind him which one of us has the super powers.

"The punch was a little excessive, don't you think? You already had him."

"I had a bad day," I say.

"I see. So that means you can use excessive force?"

"Is it excessive? He might have had a weapon, how would I know?"

"How many bad days will it take before you start killing people, Spider? Ten? A hundred?"

"I can't ever figure out if you trust me or not," I say.

"I can't either," he says.

We stare at each other.

"Well as delightful as this conversation is…" I say, getting ready to swing off.

"You caught the Dragon last night. What was he up to?"

"Terrorizing a civilian," I say.

"Yeah, I saw the burn marks. That's not his style, though. He usually doesn't do the brute work himself."

I had thought of that too, but I hadn't given it much thought, since my head had been in a lesbian lust haze all day.

"So?"

"So it must've been personal. Who was it?"

Haha, right, like I was about to give him Diana's name. I pull up on my webbing and slide onto the wall.

"You're the great detective, why don't you figure it out?"

"Shiny-Spider."

There's something in his voice that makes me stop from crawling off into the darkness. I turn around, still hanging on the wall. From this angle, the only thing visible would be the glowing yellow eyes of the suit.

"I think I already have. And she's a friend. But I need to know."

My spider-sense isn't exactly telepathy, but it's also not warning me that he's lying or trying to get the best of me. There's no trap. He's sincere, as far as a mistrusting detective can be.

"Diana Cavendish," I say.

He nods and sighs. "I thought so."

"What's going on?"

"Our families are old friends. I've known Diana since we were kids. But…I'm afraid that her family situation is dire. Her parents died a few years ago, and her aunt hasn't been wise with the finances. I'm afraid that the Cavendishes have gone into business with the criminal side of the world."

"Doing what? Selling drugs? Weapons? People?" I say the words with dread on my tongue. I don't want to believe that Diana is involved in anything like that, even by the loosest association.

"No, no, nothing like that. You know the Dragon, he keeps things 'classy.' I think it has to do with technology. Stuff on the questionable end of the legality spectrum. You know, innovations that aren't illegal because they haven't been invented yet," Hanbridge says.

"Like what?"

"No idea. Not yet. But now that I know the Dragon is involved, it narrows the field a bit. I at least have some place to start," he says, taking out his phone. He taps something into it, probably notes.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" I ask.

"Because I'm doing this one off the books. The Dragon's control of the department has increased as of late, so it's harder and harder to go after him through proper channels. I need more evidence before I can open an investigation, but I have a feeling their timetable must be pretty accelerated," he says.

"You haven't answered my question."

He smiles, pleased that I have been paying attention. It's an annoying smile.

"I think I know you well enough now to know that you're not going to leave this alone. You can go places I can't, literally. If you need me, leave a note with Martin at Decimo's on 42nd with a time and place."

"I can't just text you?" I say.

"Do spiders have phones?"

Well that was a good point. Couldn't exactly give him my personal number, could I?

"You're really annoying," I say.

"I know. It's putting a massive cramp on my dating life. You wouldn't be interested, would you?"

"Sorry, don't swing that way."

To emphasize my pun, I swing off into the darkness. Even as I speed away from him, I can hear him chuckling.

\--

When I descend back into my room that night, I find everyone asleep. It's only midnight, but I'm tired, and my mind is racing about Diana.

She needed help.

I needed more information.

But how was I supposed to talk to her again? As Akko, she thought I was creepy and weird. But Shiny-Spider couldn't just swing up into her room and say 'hey.' That would be sort of creepy in its own way.

Or would it?

She had practically thrown herself at me. Would she really be opposed to her favorite sexy superhero swinging up in the middle of the night?

I know I wouldn't…

I lean against the bunk bed while I pull off my boots. Lotte is asleep a few inches away. She looks so adorable and peaceful there, especially without her glasses.

I tuck some of her orange hair behind her ear.

"You're a really good friend to me, even if I don't deserve it," I whisper.

Then I head to bed.


	7. Croix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Croix talks to Ursula. Sucy has an idea.

A week goes by. I still have no idea what to do about Diana.

I haven't gone back to full-stalker mode, like that one day. But I keep my eye on her, both to keep her safe and to look for clues. But I don’t find any.

Nor do I find any leads during my nightly swings through the city.

I keep thinking about what Hanbridge said - that her family was going to go into something not yet illegal, but should be. Something with advanced tech. But I already swung by all of the big tech companies in Nova York, and from the little research I could do on the matter, it doesn't seem like any of those companies are planning anything _big_. Not big enough to make the police nervous.

The school day ends, and I find myself slumped over on a table in Professor Ursula's room. She holds after school tutoring most days, but apparently I'm the only customer today.

"You seem a bit down, Akko," she says, wheeling by.

"Just a lot on my mind, professor."

"Anything I can help with?"

Professor Ursula was by far my favorite teacher here at Luna Nova. Before I had spider-powers, she was sort of like my mentor. But since being bit, I haven't spent as much time with her. I feel kinda bad about it, but it felt awkward hiding things from her. I mean, how on earth could she relate to what I was going through?

"I don't know how to get close to someone. And I tried being direct about it, but it just made things weird. I feel like there's a huge pressure on the whole thing. Like there's a countdown clock," I say. It's about as vague as I can make it. I can see in Ursula's sharp eyes that she's trying to work out the details - fill in the names and the faces.

"I see. That does sound complicated," she says with an awkward chuckle. "Is there…any more information you can give me?"

I think about it.

"No."

"Oh, okay. Well…I'm not really sure what to say. But persistence always helps! So long as you respect other people's boundaries. And make sure you practice safe sex."

"Uh…yeah, thanks, professor."

"And-"

We both stop.

We both turn to the door.

It swings open, revealing a young woman in her late twenties. She's wearing a stylish, well-cut lavender blazer and pants that matches her perfectly coiffed lavender hair. She has a stylish handbag, but I can see the laptop sticking out of it.

"Well, well. Look who we have here," the woman says. I turn to look at Ursula, whose face has grown dark and stormy.

"Akko. Do you mind? I need to have a word with this woman in private."

I nod, and pick up my stuff. The woman in the door steps aside for me, but doesn't seem to pay me any mind at all.

When the door clicks shut, I jump up.

It's an easy thing to push the paneling in the ceiling and crawl through the space between. I've done it on more than one occasion here in Luna Nova.

I've also found too many rats, but that's a different story.

I'm on the ceiling still, peering down at the paneling. I move over to a ventilation grate and get a good angle.

"What are you doing here, Croix?" Ursula demands.

"There's no need to be hostile. I've just come to move in," says the other woman, apparently named Croix.

"What? Move in?"

"Yes, our alma mater has decided to hire me on as a professor of advanced physics. Quite an honor, though I do think the pay is a little low, considering what these girls are paying to get here. Do you think Hollbrooke keeps it all?"

"We had a deal, Croix," Ursula says, pushing her wheel chair over to her. "I've kept my end of it. You _know_ that I have."

"Have you? Because I've seen the news, Ursula. I have a Twitter account and everything."

"I have _nothing_ to do with that. You know I don't," she says, her voice a mixture of anger, fear, and pleading.

"Yes, well, it does lack your usual gaudy sensibilities. Still, I find the timing rather suspect. I make plans to move back to Nova York, and all of a sudden, _bam_ there she is. I wonder if maybe my devices aren't helping you the way they should be."

"They are," Ursula says, her eyes falling down to her lap. "Believe me, they are."

"Good. Then I trust we will work together just _fine_. I will need you to tell me where the coffee machine is," Croix says.

"Why are you here, Croix?"

"To make sure I finish what I started. This was just a courtesy visit. I trust there will be no problems. Otherwise I can finish the _other_ thing that I started."

Croix gives Ursula a little bow, and then strides away, her heels clacking behind her.

My spider-sense dwindles. This Croix woman was gone for now. I peer down and try and get a read on Ursula, but she's already turned her chair away from the grate. I think about going down there and comforting her.

But I have another feeling in my gut. Something about this Croix woman isn't sitting right with me.

I send out silent thoughts of encouragement towards Ursula, then crawl my way back to the main hallway.

\--

"Her name is Dr. Croix Merides. She's an astrophysicist. And experimental physicist. And a particle physicist. Basically, she's a physicist."

Sucy is lazily eating a big cup of soft serve frozen yogurt that she just poured. Things might be very overpriced at Luna Nova, but at least they spend a good portion of the money on the food. She's scanning through her phone while she does this. Most people would assume she was hardly paying any attention.

But Sucy is generally smarter than that. I think a lot of it is an act.

"What kind of physics is all that?"

"I don't know. I only love chemistry, remember?" Sucy says, her spoon hanging out of her mouth. "Speaking of, I made something for you."

She sets out a few vials, which I pocket quickly.

"Stop handing out web cartridges everywhere…"

"No one else knows what it is. Relax."

I shake my head and try to stay focused. "Is Croix Merides a good physicist?"

"Probably one of the best. She's so young, and yet she's made huge advancements in her areas of study. They've called her the next Einstein and Hawking."

"Then what the heck is she doing here?"

"Good question. She could have a position in any university in the world, and probably get really lucrative grants from corporations. There isn't a good reason for her to be here."

"She told Ursula she had to finish something," I say.

"Then maybe we have to find out what she was like when she was a student. Or maybe look into her research," Sucy suggests. She sits up straighter and pushes the yogurt cup away. "I could look into it on the science channels. Take a look around the internet."

"Thanks, Sucy."

"Still…Ursula is hiding something too. We need information on her too."

"Yeah, but I doubt that's going to be on the internet. I'm going to have to get into the file room."

"I'm sure you'll manage," Sucy says.

\--

"Almost….almost…"

Amanda is leaning against the file room door with a lockpick. Jasminka is down the hall, standing as lookout, while Constanze is staring at the door with obvious impatience.

"Almost…" Amanda mutters.

Constanze apparently isn't interested in "almost" because she walks up to Amanda and shoves her aside. Instead of a lockpick, Constanze pulls out a large electronic square and presses it to the lock. She hits a button, and I hear the lock release.

"You coulda told me you had that in the first place…" Amanda grumbles.

"Thanks, Constanze," I say. "You guys stay here. No sense in everyone getting in trouble if I get caught."

"Mainframe…" Constanze says, her voice a whisper.

"She's right," Amanda says. "You're pretty good with computers, but Constanze is better. Take her. Me and Jas will keep a lookout."

I look down at my shorter friend. Her eyes have the same irritated look they did with Amanda, so I shrug.

"Sure, come on."

We enter.

The file room isn't terribly impressive. It's mostly filing cabinets, and a computer terminal at the end. Next to the terminal are a bunch of stack servers, though I'm not sure what they're for. We knew that the electronic archives for Luna Nova were kept off the network in this room to prevent hacking. I suppose they might store our grades and permanent record stuff in here.

I pull open a drawer and start flipping through files. Constanze is already at the computer. Instead of typing onto the keyboard, she takes out another device from her messenger bag and plugs it in. She then pulls out a pair of goggles and slips them on. They power on, and her eyes vanish.

The files aren't that useful. It's mostly personal information stuff. I find Croix's old files, but they just had her address and parents names.

Oddly, I can't find Ursula's.

"Find anything?" I ask Constanze.

She nods, and plugs in a USB drive. A moment later she pulls it out, then rapidly disconnects everything from the mainframe.

I want to know what's on there, but I don’t need to risk being in this room any longer than I have to. We both rush out. Amanda and Jasminka fall in with us, and we head back to the dormitory. We decide to go to their room.

One end of their room is piled high with tech. The other has bunk beds.

"Where do you sleep, Constanze?"

She shrugs and sits down to plug in the USB drive.

"She sleeps with whichever us she feels like," Jasminka explains. "It's not like she takes up that much room."

I picture it in my head. What an adorable idea, sliding into someone's bed. Especially tiny little Constanze. She's probably really warm in the winter.

I wonder if she has a crush on either of her roommates. Or maybe they have some sort of poly thing going on.

"Files," Constanze mutters. I lean over her shoulder to look.

"This is everything Croix wrote when she was here?"

"Yes," Constanze says.

"But…there's hundreds of papers!"

"Damn, she sure was prolific. Do you think she's gonna give a lot of homework? Cause honestly, I can barely keep up with Babcock's shit," Amanda says.

"Can I get a copy?" I ask. Constanze nods, and I sigh. It's going to take forever to sift through all the information.

"Thanks guys."

"Psh, don't mention it," Amanda says, falling onto her bed. "You know you can always count on us to do a little B and E."


	8. Octavius

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiny-Spider decides to visit Diana.

I spend an hour or so that night reading the files.

I don't get them.

It's not that I'm dumb. You have to have high academic skill in order to be accepted at Luna Nova, especially in science. But this stuff is way beyond what I know how to do. I feel like I'm going to need someone with a better grasp of particle and energy physics. Or it's going to take me a lot of time.

And I don't have time.

I don't know that for sure. It's not even something being triggered in my spider-sense. It's just a gut instinct. I can't place it, but somehow I feel like the mystery of Croix and Ursula somehow connects to the Dragon and Diana. I feel like that the mysterious science must be somehow connected to Croix, even though I don’t know what she does.

And I feel like Ursula must know something.

The fact that we couldn't find _anything_ about her in the files is strange. She was a student here, we all know that, she talks about it all the time. And there's no way that the school would hire her if she had lied about something as basic as that. But Constanze couldn't find anything. And if Constanze couldn't find it, then it pretty much guarantees it doesn't exist.

I could wait and see.

But I'm not very good at that. I never was. It's why I have spider-powers, it's why I use them, and it's probably a core piece of who I am.

I may not know a lot about who Akko Kagari is and who I'm supposed to be. But I know that I hate sitting around. I know I have to take action.

And maybe, _maybe,_ it has something to do with wanting to see Diana again.

I'm not sure how it's going to go. I just put on the suit and swung around the block, approaching her dormitory window from a random angle. Diana's dormitory is a little bit nicer than mine, and includes a really gorgeous balcony that overlooks the city.

I land on the railing.

This is stupid. She's probably not even awake, it's already midnight, and what reason am I going to-

"Shiny-Spider!"

I look up at the sliding door. She's standing there, wearing her thick coat over blue silk pajamas.

"Hey," I say, stepping down from the railing. I start to wonder what I'm going to do next when Diana hurls herself across the balcony, wrapping her arms around me.

I embrace her immediately. She buries her face in my neck, her golden locks blanketing my face. She smells wonderful.

"I was afraid that after we kissed that maybe I had been too forward," she says into my neck. "I've been waiting for you."

I almost laugh. Here I was, worrying about showing up as Shiny-Spider and not knowing how to explain myself, and she was _waiting for me_.

"Been kinda busy," I say. "But uh…you know, it wasn't too forward. I really liked it."

"I'm glad," she says, leaning back to look at me, our arms still wrapped around each other. "I…I wasn't sure. About a lot of things. Maybe you didn't like girls, or maybe you had someone else or…I don't know."

"There's no one else," I say.

"I'm sorry, this must be coming across so intense. I just have…such deep feelings for you, Shiny-Spider. And I know that's stupid, because I don't know who you are. But I also feel like I do know who you are. I mean, the kind of person that would risk themselves to help others, who would put themselves in harm's way to save _me_ , must have a big heart," Diana says.

"I'm just doing the right thing."

"Not everyone would. I think most people wouldn't, if they had the powers you have. I mean…the people you fight don't make that choice. How many of those super-villains could be super heroes?"

I smile underneath the mask. I didn't take Diana for someone who would have thought so deeply about the nature of superheroes.

"I feel a connection to you too, Diana. And…I really wish I could take the mask off. But I can't yet."

"Why not? Don't you trust me to take on my own risk? I know those who would want to hurt you, and I know how they would want to use me to get to you. Can't I make that choice?" Diana says.

She's so beautiful. The pink and purple city lights sparkle in her blue eyes.

"I can't because you're hiding something from me," I say. Though it pains me, I step away from her grasp.

"What do you mean…?"

"The Dragon. Why was he attacking you?"

She looks crestfallen. She turns away.

"I…I can't tell you."

"Yes you can. I can help you. Whatever it is, it can be taken care of."

"I believe you," she says. "I don't know why, but I do. But we can't talk here."

She slips into my arm again, curling her arms around my waist. She feels so natural there. I reach out to the skyline and _thwip!_

We swing through the city again, but this time I'm not interested in thrilling her. This time, I just want to hold her as close as I can for as long as I can. I don't know what she's going to tell me. I don't know if she's going to pop this delicate bubble we have.

I settle us down by the waterfront. The bridge shines across the channel, and the smell of salt water fills the air.

"Thank you. Every swing is so incredible…" she says.

"Please, Diana. Tell me what's going on."

She nods.

"My family is in financial trouble. My parents died a few years ago, leaving everything to my aunt and cousins. They haven't been responsible with the Cavendish wealth. She's made terrible investment decisions, a couple of failed start-ups. I don't know if I would even be able to go to Luna Nova if it weren't for my trust fund. At this rate, though, everything my parents worked for will be in ruins by the time I'm old enough to take it over. And I can't let that happen."

I thought through what I knew about the Cavendishes. Their big corporation was MedPlus, a medical insurance company that used a variety of investment techniques to deliver free or affordable health care to low-income families. They had opened dozens of hospitals and changed the landscape of how healthcare worked in America.

It would be a terrible loss if it went under. Even I knew that.

"What did you do?" I ask.

"I didn't do anything. My aunt made an investment with a scientist. I…I don't know. I don't think it's legal, but I don't know if it's _illegal_. All I know is that I have a bad feeling about it, and I certainly don't trust the scientist. He's promised that we would make our investment back 100 fold. So…my aunt decided to borrow even _more_ money from the Dragon. She believes that when the scientific breakthrough happens, we'll be even richer than before. But the scientist is taking too long, and the Dragon is getting impatient."

"Who is the scientist?" I ask.

"Arachno Octavius."

The name stabs me in the heart. I feel like I can't breathe.

Arachno Octavius, AKA Doc Ock, was one of Shiny-Spider's worst enemies. The first Shiny-Spider, that is. Octavius was a brilliant researcher who had lost his mind as a result of one of his experiments. His scientific brilliance, combined with his instability, resulted in a horrifying supervillain that killed many, many people and did untold damage to city again and again.

But he's been dead for ten years.

The last great confrontation between Doc Ock and Shiny-Spider ended in an incredible explosion in the countryside outside of Nova York City. Shiny-Spider had survived, but there was no sign of Doc Ock.

"He's dead," I say, as if saying so will make it true.

"That's what I thought. That's what everyone thought. But I've seen him. I've talked to him. He's very much alive."

I stand up.

"He's extremely dangerous. Where do I find him?"

"Shiny-Spider, I can't let you…he might kill you. He almost killed the first Shiny-Spider, and you…you're…"

"I know. I'm not as good as her."

"That's not what I meant."

"But I know it's true. I've only been doing this six months. And even though I've gotten really good at it, the first Shiny-Spider had five years of experience before she had to fight someone like Doc Ock. And he was just starting out. This time, I'll be the inexperienced one, and he'll know all of the Shiny-Spider tricks."

She takes my hand.

"Then don't do it."

"I have to. I can't let him finish whatever it is he's developing. Please, Diana, tell me what you know."

"It's not much…but I know it has something to do with Luna Nova."

I frown.

"Your school?"

"Yes. There's something there. I don't know what, but the last time I saw him, he asked me a lot of questions about the school. A _lot_ of questions."

My mind is racing. Doc Ock attempting to do something at Luna Nova meant that he might directly attack the school. Sucy, Amanda, Jasminka, Constanze, Lotte…they'd all be at risk. I don't know if I can protect everyone at the school in such a concentrated area.

But what was I supposed to do? Warn the school? Warn them what? That a dead man might sometime attack the school at some point?

But this is also the second time that it seems that Luna Nova is hiding secrets. I can't stop thinking about Ursula and Croix's confrontation either, and I can't help but wonder if it's somehow connected.

Or maybe I just _want_ it to be connected.

"Do you know a Croix Merides?" I ask Diana. She looks confused.

"She's a new teacher at my school. Why, is she important?"

"Maybe…" I say, trying to sound mysterious rather than disappointed.

"If you need me to look into things at the school, I can help," Diana says.

"It's dangerous," I say.

"It's all dangerous. Do you think I want to let you do it on your own? If you got hurt because you were trying to help me…"

I didn't realize it was happening, but we've somehow ended up sitting side by side, our faces less than an inch apart.

"I really want to kiss you again," she whispers.

Ugh, my little gay heart is melting. After a whole week of failing to get Diana's attention, these feel like magic words putting me into a trance.

I know I shouldn't.

Not just because I want to protect her, but because I shouldn't trust her. She's told me a lot: her family is working with Doc Ock _and_ the Dragon, and they're funding dangerous science. She claims that she has nothing to do with it, but I don't know that for sure.

What if Diana is using me? What if she's trying to control Shiny-Spider through her golden locks and soft lips and sexy, sexy breasts…

I _shouldn't_.

I lean forward, just a little.

Her hands creep up my neck and roll back the mask, just enough to reveal my lips.

We kiss.

We kiss for a long time. My hand runs up and down her back, while one of hers runs along my thigh. I feel a flood of excitement and desire rushing throughout my body.

"I should take you back," I say finally, sliding my mask back into place.

"All right."

I hold her tight again on our swing back. I want to kiss her goodnight again when we reach the balcony, but the temptation to pull the mask off is growing and I don't want to risk that just yet.

"Be careful," she says.

"You too. Don't do anything stupid. And if you need something, leave a note on the balcony. I'll come by and check."

"Will I see you again soon?"

"Yes. I promise."

And with a final _thwip,_ I'm away and into the darkness.

But not to bed yet.

I need to leave a note with an Italian man.


	9. Ursula

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko gets Andrew's help. Ursula's past is revealed.

"Boo."

Andrew Hanbridge leaps about a foot into the air, and I can't help but chuckle. I'm hanging from a building, upside down, having used the maximum levels of my stealthiness.

I _may_ have been trying to scare him.

"Geez, it's bad enough I hate real spiders," Hanbridge grumbles, smoothing out his coat.

"I'm sure you could just shoot it. Oh wait, that's right, no gun."

"I don't _want_ a gun. Now did you call me out here to pester me, or do you have something of value?" Hanbridge says, pretty grumpy. I guess he wasn't into being called out to a dark alley at 12:30 AM.

"Behind you," I say, pointing. He turns to see the wall, where I've webbed up a grocery bag. He pulls the bag off, brushing the tendrils of web away, and opens it.

"A memory stick?"

"Files from Luna Nova. Ground zero, though I'm not sure why yet. Miss Cavendish and I had a conversation. Her family has been in contact with Arachna Octavius. Doc Ock."

Hanbridge casually puts the memory stick into his pocket. He crunches the grocery bag into a ball and tosses it into the closest can.

"Octavius is dead," Hanbridge says.

"Diana says he's not. She's says she's talked to him."

He turns away from me to stare at the street and contemplate what I've told him.

"Guess that's not impossible. What does that have to do with Luna Nova?"

"That's what you're supposed to figure out, Mr. Prodigy. A new professor showed up a few days ago, a Croix Merides. She's also a brilliant scientist, and has come back to Luna Nova to gather something."

"How does she connect to this?"

"Again, I don't know. That's why I'm giving you all of this. But, the Cavendishes are involved in some sort of technological investment, there's claims that Octavius is still alive, and a brilliant scientist comes to the same school Diana attends all at the same time. I don't think it's a coincidence."

There's a long pause.

"I don't either. I'll look into it. How do I contact you?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something. Shine a light in the sky or something."

I _thwip_ away for dramatic purposes, vanishing before he's able to turn all the way around again.

\--

Hanbridge might figure it out before I did, but it didn't stop me from trying. All week long, I could hardly think about anything else. It helped, and didn't help, that Croix Merides was now one of my new instructors.

"Professor Finnelan's leave of absence has been extended for the rest of the school year," she had begun on that Monday morning. "My name is Professor Merides, though you can just call me Professor Croix. We're going to pick up where she left off here in Applied Engineering."

She wasn't a bad teacher. Better than Finnelan, I thought. And she brought a lot of interesting gear to the classroom. Constanze looked like she'd died and gone to heaven.

But I couldn't figure out Croix.

She seemed nice enough in the classroom. Cheery, supportive, intelligent. None of the aggressive cruelty she'd shown Ursula ever came out, even when Amanda was being annoying or when I took a quick cat nap.

But then, on Friday, I got my big break.

I walk in, flanked by Lotte and Sucy, to see Ursula sitting in the corner with a clipboard. Professor Croix is preparing for the lesson. I walk over to Ursula.

"Hey professor. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just doing a little observation. Just here to make sure Professor Croix has everything she needs. How do you like her class so far?"

"It's pretty cool. We're building a robot. Well, _Lotte_ is building the robot. I'm trying, but mechanical engineering isn't my strong suit. But I think I'm learning a lot more about circuitry."

"That's great," she says with a big smile. But I feel like something's off. Or maybe I'm just projecting that something is off, because I know what happened between her and Croix.

"I better go," I say, and rush over to my seat.

As I told Ursula, we had spent the last few days building a robot. It's not a cool robot, it's basically a flat disc about twelve inches across. Actually, it's basically a Roomba, though it doesn’t have the vacuum. It _does_ have some flight motors in it, which were Constanze's favorite piece of technology.

I'm pretty sure she stole a few.

The rest of it was wiring the remote receivers. We don't know how to program the robot yet, so it's built to take basic commands from an app on our tablets.

Wait, did we just make a drone?

Well, it didn't matter. It was way more fun to build something than to just talk about building something.

Our robot was pink, at Lotte's insistence.

"All right class, let's power them up!"

"You do the honors, Lotte," I say, pushing the tablet towards her. She smiles proudly and hits the "activate" button on the screen. The robot revs up, a green light appearing on the front. I hear robots powering up all around us.

I peek over at Diana's. Her group's is Tiffany blue, which I think is probably the absolute best color when it comes to Diana. It matches her eyes. I wonder what she would look like in a Tiffany blue dress.

Or Tiffany blue lingerie…

"Akko," Lotte hisses, nudging me with her elbow. I snap out of it.

"Sorry, what are we doing?"

"We're supposed to make the robot fly now. I want you to do it."

She passes me the tablet. I push the "fly" button.

The room gets noisier as the robots all lift up from the tables. There's a lot of surprised gasping and laughing. Professor Croix walks about, inspecting the floating robots one by one.

I hear grumbling and frustration behind me. Two tables behind me is Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka. Constanze is whispering into Amanda's ear, and Amanda suddenly shoots up a hand.

"Professor! Constanze says that the weight distribution is off on our robot, but she isn't sure why because she spent forever working on it to get perfectly balanced."

"Ah, yes, I noticed that, excellent work Miss Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger. However, there were a few modifications I needed to make to all of the robots."

Professor Croix pulls out her phone, and taps it a few times. I notice that the green lights on the robots suddenly turn red.

"Don't worry, though. It's just a test. And none of you will remember anything."

She pushes the button again.

My spider-sense goes into overdrive.

Hatches on the bottom of each robot pop open, and a pink gas flows into each group's face. There's some scattered coughing, but mostly the girls around me slump down onto the desk.

"You'll keep an eye on them for me, Professor Ursula? I'm going to step outside a moment. Need a little fresh air…"

Professor Croix walks out the door. I hear her lock it.

I'm still up. I got a big blast of the gas too, but something we discovered early about my powers is that I metabolize things much faster. Whatever this gas is, it's not enough to affect me.

I need to destroy the robots. But I need to wait another few moments to make sure everyone's out.

I really hope this is just a knock-out gas, and not a death one.

I decide to slump over too, in case someone else in the room is managing to hold on. My heart is pounding, but I can't risk exposing the secret. If the gas is so weak that it's not getting through my powers, then it can't be a death gas, right? And Croix isn't going to risk mass-murdering a group of girls, right?

Right?

Just a little longer, I tell myself. A little longer and I can spring into action.

I hear a rattling sound. I tip my head up to peek, wondering who has managed to stay awake so long.

_Smash!_

Diana's robot is smashed into bits, crashing onto the floor.

I almost sit up in shock.

Professor Ursula has smashed the robot with a textbook!

And she's _standing!_

Her wheelchair is tossed onto its side, and she's just _standing there_ , on two feet, textbook in hand, jaw clenched.

All of the other robots pivot, directing their single red lights at her.

"Figures…" she mutters, and tosses the book over her shoulder.

Two robots zoom forward, then tip upwards right as they approach Ursula. The robots were trying to use their flight fans, which spun at incredible speeds, to cut her. Ursula takes a pivoting step, letting them fly extremely close to her face, but still missing her.

A third robot comes shooting through the air, aimed at her torso. I tense, ready to leap up.

Except I don't have to.

Because she leaps up.

Onto the ceiling!

One leg is outstretched.

Her fingers are splayed out.

Her blue hair suddenly melts away, turning into a fiery red.

It can't be. It can't be!

Is it?!

But it is. I can feel it now, my spider-sense is rattling like an alarm in my head. Every inch of my body is screaming the truth to me, because I recognize her. Not just from hours of studying YouTube videos, not because she once swung me to safety.

Because I recognize myself in her.

Ursula is the Shiny-Spider!

She leaps forward, spinning a kick at the next attacking robot, landing back on the floor. Another robot swoops in, and she ducks beneath it with lightning-fast reflexes. She jumps back on the ceiling, clinging with just her feet so that she's standing upside down, and punches the next robot, sending it flying into the wall.

Two robots rush up, much more aggressive. They move faster than I thought possible. Ursula lies on the ceiling to let them pass by, then does upside-down cartwheels on the ceiling to keep one step ahead of the robots. She reaches the white board at the front of the classroom and clings to that, snagging a meter stick from the marker tray.

She cracks it across a robot, but the stick is too weak. The thin wood splinters, and the robot moves undeterred at her face.

I reach into my messenger bag.

_Thwip!_

I jump out of my seat and lean back as hard as I can. The webbing snags the robot, and I manage to pull it back away from Ursula. The robot gets in range, and I snap a high kick at it, breaking it into bits.

Ursula's eyes are wider than I've ever seen.

" _Akko!?"_

"Catch, Shiny-Spider!"

I throw my left-handed webshooter through the air. One robot swoops in to intercept, but I splatter it with a high-impact web-ball. The robot careens into the ceiling, where it's then held in place as the web-ball unravels. Ursula catches the shooter, and effortlessly slides it onto her left wrist.

The robots must be mad now, because three of them rush at me, two from high, one snaking its way beneath the table legs and aiming at my ankles. I hop up just enough to land on top of the low robot, while curling myself inward to let the other robots zip over my head.

I attach my foot to the robot.

Then, mimicking Ursula's cartwheel, I press my hands to the floor and whip my legs around as hard as I can. At the apex of the arc, I release my wall-crawl-hold on the robot attached to my foot and hurl it at another one.

The two robots crash and shatter.

Four robots descend around me and unleash a spray of gas. It's still not having any sleepiness effects, but it's still impossible to see through, and it does make my eyes water a little.

_Thwip!_

I feel the webbing snag my back and I'm launched through the air. I adjust my feet and land on the whiteboard, right next to Ursula.

"Thanks for the assist, but I was okay. I've practiced fighting in gas," I said, grinning from ear to ear at Ursula.

"You have!? That's incredibly dangerous!"

"Not for me. Or, us."

Ursula shakes her head rapidly. "We need to have a long talk."

"Happy to, Shiny-Spider."

"Stop saying that out loud, Akko!"

We both look up, our spider-senses warning us. There's six robots left, and they're flying side by side in a perfect line. They rush at us, full-speed.

Ursula and I don't need to communicate. Maybe it's because our spider-senses were synched up. Maybe it's because I've studied all of her moves.

Maybe it's because we both only have one webshooter.

But we move together.

_Thwip, thwip!_

The webs attach to the opposite end of the room. We grasp hands and pull, using the webs to rocket ourselves across the room. We both extend our legs, and each manage to catch two robots under our feet. When we land on the other wall, the robots are completely crushed.

Two left.

I turn and start running along the wall. Ursula drops to the floor, in the center aisle of the desks.

I jump and sling a web at the pink robot - Lotte's robot.

Ursula dips down to her knees, using momentum to slide under an army-green robot - Constanze's robot. She shoots a web to snag that one from beneath.

I use the momentum from my jump to swing my robot as hard as I can. Ursula does the same.

We crash the robots into each other.

"Yes!" I cheer. I turn to look for Ursula.

She stands back up and walks to the front. She _thwips_ the web at her wheelchair and yanks it over with one hard pull. She turns and sits in it effortlessly, but then lets out a long, painful grunt.

Her hair turns blue again.

She breathes heavily, sweat beading on her forehead.

"Professor?"

"Ha…forgot how fun that was…" she says, looking down at the webshooter. She unstraps it, and tosses it at me. I catch it and slip it on.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. But you need to clean up the robot pieces, quickly. The girls will be fine."

"How do you know?" I ask.

"Because I know that gas. We have a lot to talk about, Akko. But for now, we need to clean everything up, and think of an explanation as to why the robots are going to be missing when they wake up."

I walk over and kneel next to her.

"I can't believe it's you. I wondered where you were for so long…"

"I can't believe it's _you_. Of all the people who I thought were taking my Shiny-Spider title, I ddn't think…well, it doesn't matter. Hurry, Akko. There's a broom in the closet."

I rush over and find the broom and dustpan and sweep up robot pieces as fast as I can. When those are done, I recover the robot I had webbed to the ceiling and pull out the power supply.

"What should we do with this one?" I ask.

"Keep it. You might find something useful on it."

I nod, and put it in my messenger bag - as awkward as that is. It looks really lumpy and full now.

"Stay here with the girls until they wake up. If I know Croix, it'll be timed so that they wake up just as class is finishing. When they don't seem to remember what happened to the robots, just 'remind' them that Croix had to take them because of a defective part recall."

"Okay, I can do that."

Ursula wheels herself over to the door.

"Come to my room tonight, after 10."

And with that, Shiny-Spider wheeled herself out the door.


	10. One and Only Shiny-Spider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story of the first Shiny-Spider.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, I'm soooo sorry for the delay. Things in my life got really complicated there for a minute. But it all turned out okay! So, back to the story, and thanks for being patient. I love each and every one of you, and I super appreciate all of your support. 
> 
> Thanks <3 /\\(00)/\

"Professor Ursula is the Shiny-Spider," Lotte repeats, shaking her head. "I can't believe it. I never would have guessed it."

My spider-team; Sucy, Lotte, Amanda, Jasminka, and Constanze; are in our hidden sub-basement lair. I've already told them everything, and as Ursula had predicted, they didn't remember any of it.

"I think that's the point of the wheelchair," Sucy says. She has a swab jammed into Amanda's mouth and is rubbing it on the inside of her cheek a little too vigorously. Amanda eventually loses her patience and shoves her away.

"Okay, okay, you got your sample, damn." Amanda wipes her mouth with the back of her wrist. "I'm still pissed off that  a stupid knockout gas took me out. I need to start building an immunity."

"Dangerous…" Constanze says.

"She's right. I don't know of any compound that can knock out and erase memory at the same time. This is something new." Sucy says, her grin sharper than a knife.

"You don't have to look so happy about it," Amanda mutters.

"But maybe Sucy can make a way to protect us from it?" Lotte asks. Sucy shrugs.

"We'll see."

"In the meantime, I'm going to go see Ursula and find out what she knows." I walk over to my bag and pull out the spider suit. I start stripping my uniform off.

"Do you think this is all connected? Diana, Croix, Ursula?" Amanda asks. I haven't told them about Hanbridge and the tentative truce I have with him. I already think that these girls know too much for their own safety.

"I think so. I have no idea how, but I think so." I pull the mask on. "How do I look?"

"Shiny," Sucy mutters.

"I hope she likes it."

\--

I'm torn between a flashy and stealthy entrance. I settle on stealthy, only because I'm not sure how much security is in the teacher's section of the dormitories, and with Croix's robotic display, I'm not sure how much she's monitoring Ursula. I swing out a few blocks, then approach the school from a different direction than I did last time I saw Diana.

I find her room, which also has a balcony, and land on it. The sliding door is partially open, and I step in.

"Close it behind you," Ursula says. She's sitting in her wheelchair in the center of the living room. All of the lights are off. I do what she says, and close the curtain as well. I allow the suit to let off a dull glow along the spider lines, just for dramatic effect.

"It's a nice suit. Who built it? Constanze?"

I hesitate. I don't want to drag anyone else into trouble. "I did," I say.

"Akko, I'm your teacher, and you're smart, but I know you can't build something this intricate. Constanze or Lotte?"

"…both."

She sighs and hangs her head, hands folded in her lap. She's wearing a robe, her hair is down, and she looks very tired in the dark. I crouch beside her.

"I have so many questions," I say.

"This is a dangerous life, Akko. You shouldn't be doing this. You should hang up the suit and try your best to live a normal life."

"I can't," I say, my voice almost breaking. I'm immediately furious, and it takes a little effort to keep myself under control. "So many people have told me that. But I _can't_. And you of all people in the world should understand that."

"I do," she says, voice barely above a whisper. "I do. I just don't want you to end up like me."

My anger fades. I believe her, deep down in my gut. But interestingly, I can't sense her spider-powers with my spider-sense. That deep recognition I felt during our skirmish with the robots is gone.

"What happened?"

"It's a long story. And I think if you're going to be the Shiny-Spider you need to hear the whole thing."

 _Thwip_.

I make a hammock-bench with my webbing and sit in it.

"I have time."

\------------------

Let's start from the beginning, one last time.

My name is Ursula Callistes, but it used to be Chariot du Nord.

I went to school at Luna Nova, where I wanted to become one of the greatest scientist-gymansts of all time. I wanted to be an inspiration to young girls everywhere - first as an Olympic athlete, and then retiring into working in scientific research. I wanted to make medicine, to heal people and make them well again.

Ahead of me was my best friend and inspiration - Croix Merides.

And ahead of her was the lead professor of the science department, and our mentor.

Arachna Octavius.

Professor Octavius was already a well-known researcher. He had already made several breakthroughs in energy generation and conduction that is the backbone for most of our modern technological advancements. His teaching at Luna Nova was so monumental that it was covered on the news.

I knew that learning from him was a once in a lifetime chance. Croix and I worked really hard.

But it wasn't until I had been at Luna Nova for a few years that I discovered how far Octavius was willing to go to advance science. He was running insane experiments, things that went beyond ethical practices.

One of those projects was a mutated spider.

When Croix and I confronted Octavius, he snapped. He used his manipulator arms to attack us, and if it wasn't for Croix's quick thinking, we'd be dead for sure. But in the scuffle, the mutated spider came loose and bit me.

I thought I was going to die. I lay shivering in my bed, wishing I had one more chance to live.

One more chance to make the world better.

And, I got it.

Croix helped me every step of the way. We tested my powers, my spider sense, my strength, my reflexes, all of it. It was Croix who helped me make the first suit, who helped me build the webshooters to contain the webbing I could suddenly concoct.

Octavius's lab destruction let loose a number of experiments into the city. Some of them were mutants. Some of them mutated others. Some were just pieces of dangerous tech that became weapons.

The Dragon had just moved into the city and was waging a violent turf war with Kingpin. The police were corrupt.

And of course, Octavius himself was still out there.

The city needed a hero. So I became that hero. I became the shining beacon that would lead Nova York City into the a brighter future.

I was the Shiny-Spider.

And I _loved_ it.

For ten years, I was the webslinging wonder. I saved the city a hundred times. I righted the small wrongs as well as the big ones. Day by day, battle by battle, I reclaimed the technology that Octavius had let loose onto the world.

It wasn't without sacrifice. I could no longer be a gymnast. It wouldn't be fair with my abilities. I found it harder to make friends, or to engage in any romantic relationships. My relationship with Croix was intense, because of the secrets we shared and the goals we had and the guilt we carried in our hearts.

I didn't notice her change.

Nine years ago, I finally caught up to Octavius. The battle was the most intense I've ever fought. And even though I won, he died as a result.

I thought it was over, then. The Dragon had run Kingpin out, and while there was still crime it was at least a bit more gentlemanly. Octavius wasn't around to fuel mutations or super weapons. One by one, I would be able to put away the rest of the so-called super-villains.

Someday, the city wouldn't need Shiny-Spider.

That became my new dream. I started thinking about how I could make that change - with science, with politics, with business, with education.

But then I started to see new villains. New technology. And most frightening, a new chemical nerve agent that could knock someone out and erase their memories at the same time.

Sometimes I wonder if Croix wanted me to catch her. I think maybe deep down she knew she was turning into what we worked so hard to fight, and that she wanted me to stop her. But I still didn't enjoy the prospect.

Croix and I had to battle.

I don't remember a lot of it. In our battle, several of her experimental nerve agents were released into the air. Croix lost her breathing mask in the battle. I was afraid she might die, so I threw myself into the thick clouds and dragged her out.  I put my breathing mask on her, and prayed that my spider-metabolism would be enough to protect me.

It wasn't.

After that day, Croix and I lived in a truce. She swore to turn away from crime, to dedicate herself to making the world better through her incredible science. I swore to keep her secret. She swore to keep mine.

And for ten years this has been true.

And now, here I am, with a new Shiny-Spider, and I can't help but fear that the ghosts of my mistakes are going to catch up with her.

\------------------

I'm enthralled by Ursula's story. I don't ask any questions while she's telling it, because I can tell it's taking a lot out of her. By the end, she seems tired and weak. The chair swallows her up, holding this frail shell of a person.

"What happened to your powers?" I ask as gently as I can.

"I breathed in too much of the gas. I should have died, but…Croix saved me."

She puts her hands on the armrests of her wheelchair. I lean forward to help her up, but she waves me back. I respect it, and sit back on the hammock.

Painfully, Ursula rises. Her hair's deep blue tint washes away, replaced with a fiery red. She looks immediately stronger.

She shrugs off her robe, revealing her pajamas. She turns her back to me, and slowly raises the back of her shirt, revealing the small of her back. Implanted into her lower spine is a strange device, with a few open ports. It has a small green light that blinks every few seconds.

"The poison in my body is still there. But this machine cleans it out, but it's going to take years for it to be fully cured. I don't think it would even work if my spider-powers weren't constantly fighting against it. I haven't lost my powers, Akko. They just spend all of their time keeping me alive."

She jumps, clinging to the ceiling.

"I've been practicing over the years. I can use my powers for about ten minutes before I tire out. Of course, that fight today was the first time I've actually used them…I think ten minutes is maybe a bit generous. I was pretty wiped out after that scuffle."

She falls back to the floor and sits. She lets out a breath, and wilts as her hair changes again.

"So Croix helped you, then betrayed you, then helped you again."

"It's a complicated relationship, Akko. It's a toxic one, too, and I was glad when she and I hadn't seen each other for ten years."

"I need to tell you something," I say.

I tell her everything - Diana, the Dragon, Octavius, Croix. She listens, though she looks as if she'd rather not hear any of it. When I'm done, she takes another deep breath.

"I think Croix might be working for Octavius," I say. "Just like she did back then."

"I don't know what Diana thinks, but she's wrong. Octavius is dead. I was there, Akko, I saw his body being consumed by rampant nuclear fusion. He was vaporized. Torn apart on an atomic level. There's no way he came back from that," Ursula says, each word bringing back painful memories to the top.

"Then someone posing as him, maybe. It's not like Diana knows intimately what Octavius looks like. But do you think Croix is involved?"

"It's hard not to think that. I don't know why she's here, but she said she had to finish something. I've been wondering about this for days. I thought maybe she wanted to finish our fight, but she hasn't done anything. Maybe it was some piece of research that Octavius was working on while he was here. Or maybe it was the project she was working on when we battled." She takes off her glasses and rubs her eyes. "I wish I could be more help, Akko, I really do."

"It's okay, professor. You did your part. Now I'll do mine."

"No, you shouldn't. You should stop before something seriously bad happens to you and your friends. If Croix is involved, she's extremely dangerous. She's smart and cunning and cold. She won't care about your age, she won't care about who she hurts. She'll do whatever it takes to get what she wants."

"And don't you think someone should stand up to that?"

Ursula says nothing, only looking at her lap.

"I'll be careful, professor. And if it helps, I have an ally in the police department working on this."

"You have a police contact?" she sounds surprised. "Do you trust them?"

"I think so, yes. He's motivated to help, let's just say that."

"Before you go," Ursula says, wheeling her chair over to a closet. She opens it, and motions inside.

It's her Shiny-Spider suit.

Hers is white, with ornamentations of bright red, bright blue, and gold. A stylized spider sits at the center of the chest, with a bright golden star behind it. Her mask covers her face and neck, but leaves space for her bright red hair to trail behind her.

"I know you have one, and I'm sure it's better but…you should have it. It's really all I have left to offer."

I kneel down next to her and take her hand.

"That's the biggest honor anyone could ever give me. But it's your suit. You're still Shiny-Spider. And maybe someday, a brilliant scientist like Sucy will be able to find a cure, and you can be the Shiny-Spider again."

I _thwip_ over to the back door and slide it open.

"Or maybe by then, the world won't need a Shiny-Spider. And then your dreams really will have come true."


	11. Sneaking Around Luna Nova

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko finds Diana sneaking around.

I want to see Diana.

I tell myself because I want to investigate the story about Octavius, and try and sort out why Diana believes Octavius is alive. But that's not why I want to see her.

I think about her mouth and the way my heart pounds when she looks at me.

Maybe just a quick visit.

I swing out of Professor Ursula's room and swoop down towards the expensive dormitories. She should still be up, considering that I've been meeting her even later than this.

My spider-sense tingles.

I look down at one of the hallways in Luna Nova. The main class hallways are all dark, but I see a light bobbing up and down one of them, coming from a phone flashlight. I can tell from the shadow that it's Diana.

"Why is she sneaking around the school?" I wonder. I turn my swing around and land on an opposite building. I command the shiny-ness of the Shiny-Spider suit to dim all the way down, and I watch.

She turns a corner. I swing over to the building and land so very softly on the glass. I can see her walking down the hallway, towards one of the access elevators. Luna Nova has some very expensive and fancy science tech, and the elevator is the only way to access it.

It's also only accessible by teachers.

But somehow, Diana opens it. Light spills out of the elevator, framing her silhouette. She slides her phone away, and turns around to hit a button. I watch as the doors slide shut, and stare at the display above the doors.

Up or down?

The numbers start to climb, and so do I.

An elevator's pacing is weird. It's faster than my normal crawl speed, but too slow for me to web-zip along the building, so I resort to an odd crawl-leap pattern, over and over again. At each floor I pause, wondering if this is where she's going to stop and get out.

She stops at the top floor.

I can't see into the top floor very well. The window for the elevator hallway is visible, but the rest are security tinted. I watch as she makes her way into one of the locked rooms, using the security keypad.

_Thwip!_

I rush to the rooftop and examine the ventilation situation. I find an intake vent and pull off the grating, sliding inside as fast and quiet as I can. My heart is pounding. Every second that I don't have eyes on Diana is another second the mystery deepens.

I picture the location of the elevator, and reorient myself in the vents. I find the room she entered, and a good vent to peer out of.

This room seems to be some sort of archive room, with rows and rows of steel doors, each with an individual keypad. They remind me of a safety deposit box room in a bank, except that each box is much larger - maybe the size of a standard filing cabinet. Diana has her phone out and is scrolling through something on her screen, then looking up at the boxes, as if checking for something.

She stops at a low box, and kneels down beside it. She enters another code into the keypad, and the indicator light on the door goes from red to green. It pops open with a cheery little beep.

Diana reaches into it and pulls out a smaller metal box. She opens that box as well, and lifts out of it a glass cylinder. In the center of the glass cylinder is some sort of metal sphere. It's tiny, the size of a marble.

Seemingly satisfied, she puts the cylinder back in the box and sets the box aside. She puts the large box back into the compartment and shuts the door.

Up to this point, Diana has been calm and collected, but suddenly possessing the box has changed that. She rushes to her feet and runs out of the room as fast as she can.

I have a hard choice to make.

I can go back the way I came in, but she's moving a lot faster now. I can guess that she's going to go _down_ the elevator now, but how far, I'm not sure. I might lose her.

Or I can jump down and follow her directly.

I open the grate and hop down to the floor of the security room. I rush out through the same door and turn the hallway. Diana stands at the call button, smashing it over and over again.

"Come on, come on, it was just here! Open up you stupid thing!" Diana hisses.

"Diana," I say.

She spins around, startled. She clutches the box to her chest.

"No…Shiny-Spider, no, don't, please…"

"What is that?" I ask.

"It's nothing. Please, it's nothing, it has sat in that box for ten years, nobody at the school needs it."

"Then why take it?"

Diana says nothing.

"Diana, I'm not here to catch you. I want to help you. Please, tell me the truth."

 _Ding_.

The door opens and Diana hastily steps backwards into it. She reaches out to hit the door-close button.

"Diana, no!"

My spider-sense is screaming in my head. I am running at the door as fast as I can, and raising my webshooter.

Diana doesn't see him yet, but I do.

Arachna Octavius is standing directly behind Diana in the elevator.

An arm wraps around her and lifts her easily into the air.

"Too late, Spider!"

The door shuts just as my web impacts the door. I web-zip over, landing on the ground and pressing my fingers into the joint of the door.

"Diana!"

With a quick yank, I pull the doors open. The elevator is descending.

My heart is pounding. Ursula was wrong. Octavius is alive.

Octavius. The one that Ursula had to use lethal force on to stop.

Octavius. The evil genius who created so many of the other villains in this city.

Octavius. An enemy out of my weight class.

He could kill me. And if I let him have the chance, he would.

I jump.

Right before I land on the elevator, my spider-sense goes off. Instinctively I grab onto the elevator cable and pull myself to the side. One of Octavius' arms has punctured straight through the roof and comes uncomfortably close to impaling me. It turns and snaps at me, forcing me to spin around the cable like a pole dancer. A second arm punctures up ward and tries to catch my back, but I tumble backwards and land on the walls of the shaft. The elevator continues, pulling Octavius' arms out of reach.

"Shiny-Spider!" I hear Diana call.

The arms retract into the elevator just as it stops. I shoot two webs and pull to hurl myself down at the elevator access shaft, kicking it off its hinges.

The elevator is already empty. Octavius undulates his way across Luna Nova's lobby on two of his arms. One carries Diana, while the last punches forward and smashes the glass doors of the building.

Rick, our security guard, is hiding beneath the desk.

"Call the police!" I call out to Rick. Octavius turns down the street, and I web-zip out of the building. I _thwip_ another line and swing myself high, to get a view of the street below.

Octavius' arms are stretched to their limit, taking long swinging steps, clinging to the sides of buildings, and moving around the pedestrians and cars. People yell and scream, some take out their phones to start catching video.

I swing.

"Put her down, Octavius!" I yell from above.

"Not a chance, Spider! I need a little collateral. Hostages are just so effective, don't you think so? Wait, I forgot. You haven't been doing this very long!"

Doc Ock distracted me. When he was talking, one of his arms picked up a manhole cover from the ground and launched it like a discus at me. I twist my body in the air to let it pass by, then _thwip_ two more weblines - one to attach myself to a building, the other to catch the manhole cover mid-air.

The webbing stretches, and I can envision the next strike in my head - launch the manhole to the center of Octavius' back and try to damage all of the connected arms at once.

"Nice catch! But how good is your aim?

He holds Diana up behind him.

Damnit, it's too close! If I miss, I'll kill Diana.

I swing the manhole into a dumpster instead, and continue my swinging.

"That's what I thought. You're just a second-rate copy. The first Shiny-Spider, now that was a nemesis. She really did almost kill me, you know. And I didn't think she had the guts to do it!"

His free arm stabs through the top of a nearby mailbox. It rises out, grasping a package that he throws at me.

"Tampering with mail is a federal crime, Ock!" I call back, dodging out of the way. "You're gonna do some hard time for messing with Amazon packages!"

"If Hell couldn't hold me, Shiny-Spider, then what makes you think prison can?"

He climbs up onto an elevated train platform. I swing around and land on the platform myself. He has now landed on both of his natural legs, leaving three of his arms free to fight.

Freeing Diana has to be the priority. Whatever it is that Ock has, I can get it back later. I try to think about everything I know about Doc Ock's arms.

Super strong. Partially intelligent. Nearly impossible to sever.

Okay, this wasn't going so well.

"Come on, Spider. Show me what you got."

"Put the girl down first. I wouldn't want it to be an unfair fight. You should be allowed to use all your toys, it's only fair."

"But Miss Cavendish and I have become so close as of late. I wouldn't want her too far from my side," Ock says. He raises that arm closer to him, tipping Diana's face towards his. Diana's face turns from terrified to disgusted as Ock licks his lips at her.

_Thwip thwhip thwip!_

Three compact web balls fire out at his face as I charge at him. Ock raises a single arm to intercept them. Each ball explodes into a sticky web, but has no effect on the arm. A second arm reaches out at me low, swiping at my legs. I jump and web-zip to the side of a large pylon.

There's my chance. His first two arms are still circling from their strikes, and the third arm is behind him, too far to do anything. I just need to land my weblines on a point behind him, and then web-zip-kick him in the center of mass. That'll get him flat on his back and give me a chance to get Diana out.

_Thwip!_

I pull on the web and release myself from the pylon.

Too late, I realize my mistake.

Ock had kept the third arm behind him on purpose. When I launched the webline, he moved his arm to intercept it. It was now attached to him, and I was already using the momentum to swing myself at him.

I had to disconnect and fire a second line to-

Too late.

He swung the arm harder and faster than I thought he could, using my own web to throw me off course. I fly into the wall, back-first. Pain ripples through my shoulders and spine, and I hear cracks of concrete falling around me.

"Still using the basic moves. Where's the creativity? Where's the style? Where's the snappy one-liners? I've been fighting Shiny-Spider for ten years. You're going to have to do better than that."

I pick myself up just as the train comes to a stop. People file off, then when they see him, start running. My spider strength and healing is already in effect, but I still feel too unsteady to jump right after him.

He shakes his head in disappointment.

"Tsk, tsk. Better luck next time."

He steps onto the train, pulling Diana with him. The doors shut, and I stare at him through the windows.

I knew it. I knew I wasn't ready for this. Six months of being Shiny-Spider has taught me a lot, but he's right. He knows all of my skills and my tricks. More importantly, he knew all of _Ursula_ 's, and she was much better than I was.

He smirks at me.

In my early days, I had fantasies of fighting Doc Ock. Now I know that it was a foolish wish. He's a nightmare, and he has my girl.

Him. His arms. His smirk. All the same as it was ten years ago.

And that's when I realized I knew how to beat him.


	12. Doc Ock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko pursues Doc Ock through Nova York City to rescue Diana.

"Spider suit, emergency call: Amanda and Constanze."

The suit doesn’t talk to me much, but it does have a nice feminine computer voice when it does.

"Connecting: Amanda and Constanze."

I'm pressed low on the top of the train. I managed to swing onto the back car, where I can keep an eye out for Doc Ock. So far he hasn't made any moves, but this length of the track seems to go on for a while. The next station isn't for a bit.

"Yo yo, you got Amanda," she says. I hear rock music in the background.

"Hello," Constanze says.

"Got a Spider-problem. Doc Ock is here, he has Diana. He got onto the green line train. I’m on top, and I have a plan to stop him, but I need to figure out where he might go."

"Shit. I'm on my way," Amanda says.

"What, no, don't do that. Stay with Constanze, I just need some data help," I say.

"I'm not with Constanze. I'm out."

Of course she is .

"Constanze?"

"Green line…going at top speed, Doc Ock can't exit the train without considerable risk to himself and his arm supports. Known apparatus for his back has a limited strain threshold. Most likely will try to exit either at platform or at a slow turn."

"Well he hasn’t exactly been quiet about moving around the city. He won't stop at a platform, there'll be cops all over it," I say.

"Platform coming up," Constanze says.

I look up. In fact there is a platform coming up, and I feel the train starting to slow. The minute the momentum halts, I'm up and running across the top. The train doors open and civilians come spilling out in a panic. One overly panicked businessman pushes down an old woman with a walker.

I catch her with a webline and carry her to the side to stay out of trampling.

As predicted, cops are waiting at the platform, but the rushing people are getting in their way. They bark orders to get down and to make a path, but the panic is too strong.

"Freeze!" One young cop yells, pulling his gun. I follow his aim and see that he has a clear view of Octavius. Diana is one mechanical arm.

A child is in another one.

"Officer, I think we can go through this confrontation without having to have a child death, don't you?"

"Drop them, scumbag! Or I'll drop you!"

"Tsk, tsk. I see that the police force hasn't improved their public relations in the last ten years. The police used to be members of the community, not armed thugs. Perhaps you need to spend more quality time with the regular people!"

Doc Ock wheels his arm around and throws the child - maybe three or four - at the police officer. I can see the officer panic, not sure if he can lower his gun in time and catch him, or if he should step aside and shoot.

I make the decision for him.

With a _thwip_ I pull his gun from his hand. Instinctively, the policeman catches the kid. I catch the gun, unload the chamber and clip, and toss the whole thing to the ground. There's a chime and the automated speaker says "please step back, train departing."

I send a web through the closing doors and latch onto a seat. I use it to pull myself towards the train, even as Ock is already cutting the web. The doors shut just before I can enter, so I press myself against them, flat as I can. The train starts to accelerate, and once again we're on the elevated track, with the city below us.

"You're determined, I'll grant you that," Doc Ock mutters. Diana's eyes are wide with hope and terror.

"Help!" she cries.

I have to stand on the train sideways as one of Octavius' claws comes punching through the window. It's risky to only have the soles of my feet connected to the side, but I need my hands to defend. I swing my arms hard at the arm to deflect it. Another one comes crashing through the other window, and I do the same with that one. The first arm retracts, leaving the second to pinch its claws at my face. I bob and weave quickly, keeping myself out of harm.

With Ock's first arm out of the window, I should have a clear shot to strike a web ball at his face. I turn to aim.

Then I realize what he was doing with the first arm.

Doc Ock gives me a little wave.

His arm pulls the emergency lever on the door.

The doors fly apart, and I lose my footing. I scramble to catch the edge, but the third arm is ready, and lands a solid blow in my stomach.

I'm falling.

The train rushes by.

I spin around, my spider-senses working on overdrive to find a way out of this. I just need to catch myself on anything, sling a webline to redirect all this momentum and hopefully land on the end of the train again.

Except I catch something out of the corner of my eye, and my plan changes entirely.

I spin my body around, and prepare for the landing.

I land on the back end of a motorcycle saddle. I wrap my arms around the driver immediately, and lean close to her back. Red hair whips in my face, because of course she's not wearing a helmet. The bike is a Japanese model of some kind, and souped up to go way faster than is probably street legal.

She turns on the next street to keep pace with the train.

"Where the heck did you get this bike?" I ask.

"Don’t ask, you won't like the answer," Amanda calls back.

"Just get me close enough to that open door, I'll swing back up to it."

"You got it!"

Amanda throttles the cycle up even faster.

"Train heading for the river. After the river is a sharp bend, ideal for exiting the train. You need to get on before it crosses," Constanze says in my ear.

"Almost there!" Amanda says. She's right, we are almost in perfect line with the train. I look around, and spot a streetlamp ahead.

"Thanks for your help!" I say.

"Any excuse to go fast, babe."

_Thwip!_

The web hits the streetlamp perfectly. I use all the speed from the cycle to launch myself upward. I fly past the train and use another web to pull myself to the roof again.

Doc Ock seems to be expecting me, because the moment I land, one of his arms punches through the roof, aimed at my throat. I flip backward and land in a low spider crouch. He tries the same maneuver, but this time I jump backward, and let both webshooters spray an onslaught of webbing.

Punching through the roof gave Octavius an advantage of surprise, but it also left his arm surrounded by the metal. I cover the roof and arm with as much web as I can, and to my relief, it works for the moment. One arm is temporarily immobilized.

I look down and see that we're crossing the river. The bend Constanze describes is ahead. The river is black and inky at night, and it’s a little unnerving compared to the sea of lights that we were just battling over.

For this to work, I need him to exit when he wants to. I also need him to let Diana go. I pull out a case from my belt that contains all of Sucy's special web cartridges.

"Sleep web, shock web, incendiary web, acid web…oooh, forgot about this one."

I load the web into my left shooter and reload my right one for good measure. Last thing I need is to run out.

I swing through one of the windows, shattering it. Doc Ock is standing there with one arm around Diana, one stuck through the roof, and the other two at the ready to battle me.

"I'd offer you a hand, but it looks like you have too many," I say.

"Your webbing won't hold me forever! And two of my arms is more than enough."

"I'd love to keep this fight up forever, but it's getting late and the young lady is going to miss her curfew. So if you don't mind!"

Both arms stab at me at the same time. I jump and land on top of one of the claws, balancing. I aim one web to the ceiling, the other at Ock's arm.

The first web propels me towards Diana. Ock tries to move his arm back, but he can't. The webbing on Ock's arm is rapidly freezing.

Good ol' Cryonic Web.

I land on Ock's arm and shove my fingers into the claws. I use all of my spider strength to pry it open, letting Diana slip out of his grasp. I release the claw, drop down, and grab Diana by the waist. I half-carry, half-pull her down the train car until we have a good distance between us.

"AHHH!" Doc Ock roars in fury. The train is torn to shreds as he frees the arm in the ceiling and shatters the ice on the other.

I feel the train slowing. We're on the bend.

"Trust me," I say quietly to Diana.

"Always."

We leap out of the train. I swing us down to the street - fortunately it's a quiet neighborhood of apartment buildings and nobody is around. I turn around and see Doc Ock has hurled himself out of the train, his arms clawing at buildings to catch himself.

I zip some webbing to the side and pull hard on it. I wrap it around Diana's waist, then hand her the length.

"Hold on tight, keep your core muscles tight," I tell her.

"W-what?"

Doc Ock lands in a tremendous thud in front of us. He rises on two arms and lumbers forward.

I let Diana go.

The web pulls her away, and I hope that she can keep herself steady. I jump upward and zip high, swinging in circles high above his head.

"Nyah, nyah~ Little octopus can't catch the spider~!"

Come on. Get frustrated. Fall back into patterns. Do it!

He does.

Doc Ock reaches down to scoop up another manhole cover. He hurls it.

We repeat the scene from before. I dodge, and attach a web to it. I let all of the webbing stretch to its maximum, pulling the potential energy as taut as possible.

I turn and let it loose, using all of my strength.

I don't aim for his back.

I aim for his head.

The manhole cover sinks straight into Doc Ock's forehead.

" _Oh my God!"_ Diana shrieks.

Octavius falls to his knees. Sparks are showering from his open "wound. When his body falls forward, the head comes off completely and rolls along the street with a metallic clang. The arms give a spasm, but then stop moving.

I land on the sidewalk, and Diana runs to my side.

"It's…a robot?" she says, breathlessly.

"Yeah. I realized that he looked the same as he did ten years ago. Even if he somehow survived the explosion and didn't get any burns from it, he still would've _aged_."

"That's…very clever of you…"

I realize that Diana's voice is still breathless, and that she's slowly falling over. I catch her before she faints completely, and set her on the ground. I need to get her out of here, but I also need to get whatever that box was. I rush over to the Octavius-bot and search him.

Nothing.

I'm wondering if he has a hidden compartment somewhere on his body when he suddenly bursts into flames. I jump back and watch as his body is thoroughly destroying itself there in the middle of the street, erasing all the evidence, and any hope I had of getting the body back to Constanze to take apart.

Not that I need the evidence. I already have a pretty good idea of who built it.

"The post box…" I mutter to myself. I had thought it stupid for Doc Ock to grab a package and toss it at me. But the toss was just a distraction. He had put the metal box _into_ the post box, where his creator picked it up. I'm tempted to swing back and look for it, but I'm sure it's already long gone.

I scoop up Diana as the sounds of sirens grows louder. She and I need to have a talk.

 


	13. Tritium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko closes in on the mystery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, sorry for the delay. I've been going through some tough stuff! ;___; And whenever that happens, the first thing to go is always fan fiction. 
> 
> But I've decided I need to keep doing things I enjoy to keep my sanity. Thanks for your patience and support!

Diana wakes up with a soft little moan.

"Don't panic, you're safe," I say.

My voice startles her, but she's restrained.

"Shiny-Spider?"

"Yes. We're in a safe spot, and Doc Ock is gone now. Do you remember?"

"Right…yes, it's all coming back to me." She looks down at herself. I have her in a chair, her arms webbed behind her back and her legs webbed to the chair. It's not tight or harmful, but there's no way she's getting out of there.

I took her to my parent's apartment, the only place I knew that was both empty and secure. The lights are off. She's facing the balcony, which lets in the ambient light from the city.

"You know, I usually like to go on a few dates before I get tied up," Diana says, her voice a little sultry. My train of thought is completely derailed in that moment. I feel myself get a little warm under the suit, and am overcome with a need to find out just how much experience she's had with tying up a lover.

Maybe I should just crawl on to her lap and…

No, stop it, Akko! Investigate now, be horny later.

"I need you to answer a few questions, Diana. And I need you to be honest."

Her face is half-illuminated in the multi-colored city lights. I can see her expression go from seductive to confused.

"Wait, am I being interrogated?"

"Diana, you stole something from Luna Nova."

Diana turns her face downward, ashamed. "I know. I'm sorry about that. I didn't have a choice, Octavius threatened my family. He said if I didn't get it, that he'd attack my cousins. And then he said he would attack Luna Nova, and he didn't care who got in the way or who he hurt. He said that the stuff was in storage, that no one in Luna Nova was using it and nobody would miss it. I thought that giving him something from storage was better than people getting hurt."

"You could have told me."

She looks even more pained, and for a moment I regret my words.

"I know. I should have, and I'm sorry. I didn't realize what would happen. He gave me all of the information, the access codes, the location. It seemed easy enough. I didn't realize how bad it was until I opened the locker."

"What did he want? What was it?" I ask.

"Tritium. It's a radioactive fuel, like plutonium or uranium, but a lot more powerful. It's extremely rare, and extremely expensive."

"What was Tritium doing in Luna Nova?" I ask.

"I don't know. I was surprised too."

My spider-sense isn't a truth detector, but it's not going off about anything she's saying. I'm not sure if I can trust that, though. It's more useful for dodging flying manhole covers than it is with personal relationships.

I really want to be with Diana. Even now, all I want to do is free her from the webbing and kiss her. But is that clouding my judgment? Am I being used?

Doc Ock used to work at Luna Nova. If he were alive, there could be a simple explanation: he left the Tritium behind when he left the school, knew where it was and how to get it.

Except Octavius _isn't_ alive. It was a robot. A very complex robot.

But the robot still knew where it was, and how to get there. So someone had to know the a) the Tritium was there, b) how to build a complex robot, and c) how to access Luna Nova's secure areas.

All signs pointed to Croix.

But I didn't know for sure that Octavius had put the Tritium there. For that, I would need the files.

"I believe you," I say. I drop down from the ceiling and tear off the webbing. Diana stands up and checks her wrists, though she finds that they aren't hurt at all.

"I'm so sorry to have caused all this trouble. Am I going to get arrested? Or…kicked out of school?"

"I don't know. But whoever built the Doc Ock Bot is dealing with radioactive materials, so that can't be safe. I need to handle that first. And then after…well…I'll provide the police with all the evidence I can. If you cooperate, they'll probably let you off easy, especially if we can find proof that you were threatened," I say.

"You would do all that for me?"

"Yes. I have to follow up on some of these things…but you need to get out of the city. Is there somewhere you can go to lay low for a while?"

"Yes. We have a summer home upstate."

"Great. Tell as few people as you can where you're going. In a few days, someone will contact you to let you know it's all over."

"You'll be able to fix all this in a few days?"

"I think so."

She wraps her arms around me.

"I believe in you."

Ughhh, I want to kiss her so badly. But I think I need to hold off for the moment.

"Listen…when this is over. I want to tell you more about who I am. I want to be more honest with you. But I'll only be able to do that if you've been honest with me. You're not hiding anything, are you?"

"No, no, nothing, I swear."

"Good."

I swing her down from the apartment and to the street, where she calls for an uber. Once she's safely away, I get back on my spider-phone.

"Suit, connect to Constanze and Amanda again."

The suit does its thing and we're connected.

"Amanda, thanks for the save."

"I got you girl, every time, you know that. Now are you going to let me be your cool spider-side-kick?" Amanda says.

"No."

"Come on, it'd be dope! I could be Spider-Sis, or the Web, or Black Widow-"

"Amanda, not now. Constanze, do you have the security footage of Amanda breaking into the storage room?"

"Yes. I made a copy, just in case."

"I thought you would. Can you delete the other footage?" I ask with a wince.

"What, what the hell, Akko?" Amanda yells.

"I know, I know, listen. It's not her fault. And I'm going to prove it, I promise. But I need a little time. You have a copy of the footage, just delete the one off the main servers. If it turns out that I'm wrong, and she's involved, then we can recover the data and the police can use it. But I don't think I'm wrong."

"This is getting sketchy, Akko. We do this, we're taking the law into our own hands," Amanda says.

"That's what I do every day. Please, Constanze. If I can't figure it out in two days, you can send it to whoever you want."

There's a long, painful pause.

"Okay," she says.

"Thanks. Now you girls should get some sleep."

"Wait, where are you going?" Amanda asks.

"I have to meet someone."

\--

Andrew Hanbridge meets me on a rooftop downtown. He seems irritated about getting up there. Maybe it's because he had to use the fire escape ladders.

"Wow, that's a real subtle signal," he says, gesturing to the spotlight. I had found the spotlight on this roof a while ago, but I didn't really think much of it at the time.

"I needed to talk to you fast. I didn't have time to leave cryptic messages in an Italian restaurant. Especially considering that it's 2 AM and it's closed."

"Can you shut it off?"

I look over to my makeshift spider signal - I made a copy of my spider icon out of webbing and put it on the spotlight so that it would make a shadow. The giant spider icon shined against the clouds.

It looks pretty awesome!

But I shut it off. Hanbridge looks worn out. I only notice now that he has an energy drink can in one hand. He guzzles it down, sets the can on the ground, then stomps on it. He puts the collapsed can into his coat pocket.

"You don't even litter? I knew I could trust you."

"Gotta recycle," he says with grim humor. "Now, we have a lot to go through. Including the battle with Doc Ock you rampaged through the city. And the fact that this Doc Ock was apparently a robot?"

"Yes, I think I know who did all of this. But I need to know, did you go through the files?"

"Yeah. It wasn't easy, it's dense stuff. But I have a pretty good overview of what's in them. I sent some copies of the harder stuff to a professor friend of mine to give me a simpler explanation, but-"

"Tritium. Did any of the projects in there talk about Tritium?" I interrupt.

"Yeah, it did. Why?"

"That's what Ock was after. He attacked Luna Nova, took some Tritium that he had stored there. I spent so much time chasing him and hunting down Diana that I missed the fact that he had dropped it off, though. Whoever built Ock has it. But for it to make sense, I need to know what the Tritium is used for."

Hanbridge sighs and rubs his face.

"The micro-sun."

The micro-sun was Octavius' last experiment - the one that killed him. He thought he could create a miniature sun of self-sustaining fusion reaction that would provide infinite power to mankind.

"You think whoever took the Tritium is trying again?" he asks.

"I don't know. I…don't think so. But I need to look into something. In the meantime, we should look to see if anyone has started collecting the other pieces needed to build the micro-sun based on the plans. Maybe some of your old-fashioned police work can catch them before I have to do anything."

He laughs at that.

"We'll do that. Hey, is Diana okay?"

"She's fine, for now. I just..."

"I don't think she involved, if that helps," says Hanbridge.

"Your judgment could be clouded," I say.

"It could be. But sometimes you just have to trust your gut. Or your heart."

 


	14. Croix's Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko investigates Croix's motivation for stealing the tritium and working on the micro-sun project.

I'm relieved the next day when Diana isn't there. I eavesdrop on a conversation between Hannah and Barbara, finding out that she has told them that there is a family emergency back home. I guess that's pretty accurate.

I spend all day and the next trying to figure out what Croix's next move is. She seems completely normal in class, and cross referencing her other projects with the miniature sun doesn't seem to yield any results. But we also can't figure out what you would use the tritium for.

Right now, we're supposed to be doing a physics problem about a person swinging from a rope. Feeling like I have more than enough experience to solve that problem, I close my eyes and concentrate. I feel like I'm grasping at straws, and I'm missing something important. I need to start at the beginning and work my way forward.

Firstly, why would Croix come back to Luna Nova? Because that is where the tritium is stored. Why make a false version of Octavius? Because then the police will be looking for him instead of Croix. Why bother to steal something in order to recreate a failed project?

To prove that the theory was correct?

To prove that she is smarter than her professor? If that were the case, it would seem like she's going through an awful lot of trouble. Yes, getting the funding to start a similar project would be difficult, but not impossible for someone like Croix. Why the ruse? Why the charade?

Why did Octavius want to build the miniature sun in the first place? For power. A stable power source like that could literally change humanity. But, why did _he_ want it? Not to share with humanity, but to power his devices and plans.

Maybe Croix is building something that needs a tremendous amount of power. More power than she can comfortably steal, or generate on her own.

But what?

I open my eyes, glance down at the physics problem, and fill it out on my tablet as quicly as possible. This is the missing piece, I realize. I need to figure out what she's going to power with the sun.

It's time to make a visit back to the teacher's quarters.

\--

 

 That night, the Shiny-Spider makes a visit to Croix's quarters. It's not any more or less secure then Ursula's, which surprises me. You'd think that a super villain would have more security drones, or laser mice, or mutant hawks waiting in the wings. Instead, I crawl along the wall and find her bathroom window, which is open. I push the screen and slither my way in through the tiny window, being as quiet as possible.

All my stealth is a waste, though, because there are no lights on anywhere in the apartment. She's not here.

In fact, it doesn't look like she even lives here. There are no toiletries in the bathroom, and no clothes or personal items in her bedroom. The only place in use, seems to be the main living room, where a large dining room table is filled with files and computer parts. It reminds me a lot of Constanze's lab.

It looks freshly cleared out. There are big gaps in the piles on the table, as if something important use to be there, and isn't anymore.

Has Croix left?

I start flipping through the files as fast as I can, trying to figure out what they're about. The math and science about it are extremely complicated, and the piles of files seem to be related to each other. It's one heck of a research project.

I wonder why it's on paper?

I'm amongst the scientific calculations and theorems, I find a spiral bound notebook with hand-written log notes. She's taken meticulous record of everything she's done, and I'm starting to see why it's on paper. It has clear admissions of the plan to create the Octavius robot, to steal the tritium, and of tricking the students and gassing them. She can't keep any of this on the computer, where they could be hacked or discovered.

I'm sure that's what Contsanze would have done if I had asked her. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if she hasn't already tried.

I flip over to the very last entry, dated early this morning.

_The tritium is a perfect fit. The micro micro sun generator is working at optimal capacity. Now all I need is the focusing lens. The Cavendish girl hasn't been here into days, so I'm going to head out to her manor, and get what is rightfully mine. All this will be over soon. I can finally fix the mistakes that I was meant to fix. I can mend what I tore apart._

My stomach drops.

"Spider suit, emergency call, Amanda."

She picks up after half a ring. "Hey babe, miss me?"

"You still have that bike?"

"Yes, but I thought you didn't approve."

"We need it, now. We have to get out of the city, and find Diana. She's in danger."

\--

Amanda is driving so dangerously fast, that even _she_ puts on a helmet. We're moving at top speed, at least a hundred miles per hour. I'm too afraid to look at the speedometer. She weaves expertly in and out of the traffic on the bridge, and then takes off like a bat out of hell through the upstate roads.

The Cavendish's estate is it about an hour out of the city by car, but Amanda is apparently determined to make the trip in 20 minutes. I don't mind for now. Every minute we waste is a minute closer to Diana being harmed. Or worse.

"What's the plan where we get there?" she asks through her helmet radio. I can hear her in my suit.

" _We_ are doing nothing. You are going to park the bike somewhere and stay out of sight. I'll go and stop Croix."

"No way, that's boring," she complains.

"Amanda, you are probably the best fighter in all of Nova York City. You might be the best fighter in all of America. You're not going in there."

"Fine. But you owe me after this."

"I owe you so much. More than I'll ever be repay."

"Stop being so sappy, I meant something more tangible. Like call up a pudding cup."

"You can have all of my pudding cups until we graduate."

"Well why didn't you say so the first place?" She laughs and hits the accelerator.

The suburbs of Nova York City dwindle away, replaced by thick forest. It's beautiful out here, but chilly. Amanda continues her breakneck pace, until we see a wrought iron gate and a key pad in front of us. I leap off the back of the saddle before Amanda can bring the bike to a complete stop. I land on top of the wall.

"Stay here," I say, emphatically.

"You got 15 minutes before I head out to a club."  

I want to laugh, but I'm too worried. Instead I hopped over the edge, and make my way forward toward the manor.

The manor is gorgeous. It has to be one of those places with twenty bedrooms, seven bathrooms, add an indoor pool. The architecture reminds me of typical New England combined with European Gothic style. The balcony railing is made of stone, there are stone unicorn statues serving as gargoyles on the top of the roof. There are huge, wall-length window and dramatically long curtains. Light shines from the inside of the manor, a beacon of light amongst the dark woods.

 Normally, I would approach cautiously. A place like this would probably have security monitoring the grounds, or at least a few dogs. But knowing what I know now about the Cavendish financial situation, I'm pretty sure that there are none of those. I sprint as fast as my spider-enhanced legs will take me until I reach one of the manor's corners. I crawl silently along the wall, extending my spider senses as far as it will go. I hear talking, so I move quickly until I'm in front of the window that seems to overlook a ballroom.

The ballroom is empty, save for the glorious chandelier that is providing the shimmering light for the room. Inside is Diana and three other women. I presume that the oldest woman there is her aunt. The other two must be her cousins.

In front of the assembled Cavendishes is Croix. She has her white lab coat on, and two pieces of machinery beside her. One is a giant box, about 7 feet tall and 3 feet deep and wide. It looks like a  locker from the future. The other device sits on the floor. It's about the size of the small backpack, and is shaped like a dome. The dome is open, revealing a number of intricate components inside.

I press my ear against the window.

"The project is nearly complete," Croix says. "This is what you have paid for. This is what you wanted. This is what you risked getting in trouble for."

"I know, but I regret all of it," Diana says. "We should have never been so desperate as to throw in with the likes of you. You have taken almost everything from us, and now you demand more?"

"Miss Diana, I assure you-"

"No, Croix. We are done. I will not allow you to create another dangerous device, like your mad predecessor. You need to leave now. And I suggest you start destroying everything you have, because my next phone call will be to the FBI."

Croix presses a switch on the large locker box next to her. The doors swing open, and she steps inside. I can't see her from my vantage point, initially, I don't need to. The box flies backwards, across the ballroom crashing into the wall. Standing where the box was, is Croix in a full exosuit. It has four powerful arms, just like Octavius. The difference is it has a helmet, body armor, and who knows what else packed inside it.

"I'm sorry we couldn't come to a more amicable agreement, Miss Diana. But I am not going to let you, a child, get in the way of greatness. What I am trying to achieve, is much greater than you. And it is certainly much more important than your measly life."

That's my cue.

I smash the window, swing off the ceiling, and land in a cool crouch between the Cavendishs and Croix.

"It's over Croix," I say. I really wish I had thought of a cooler line.

"Shiny-Spider!" Diana gasps.

"Get your family to safety," I say. "I'll take care of her."

"I think you're going to have a harder time with me than you did with my mindless automaton, Shiny-Spider."

"Let's test your hypothesis."


	15. Ballroom Blitz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko battles Croix at the Cavendish Manor.

They say that you can determine who wins a fight in the first punch. It feels like that with Croix.

And I feel like I'm going to lose.

The Octavius bot was incredibly strong, but it was slow and mechanical. Croix's mecha arms move fluidly, like liquid destruction. One comes down at me from above, and I snap a kick to the side of the arm to send it to the side. A second one snakes around my leg and tries to sweep me from behind, but my spider senses alert me and coax my body into a backflip.

"Not so fast, Cavendish ladies! We aren't done with our meeting!"

From Croix's back, two hovering discs launch - modified versions of the Roomba-like drones we made in class. They go shooting above me and head for Diana and her family. I quickly shoot a web at both of them, but the claws are too quick - one pins down one of my arms to the ground, the other intercepts my webbing. The drones zoom beyond me.

"Diana, run!" I yell. I try to get up, but the arm has me too pinned down against the floor.

_Smash._

I manage to turn my head enough to look. Amanda stands there with her metal staff and with drone debris scattered across the floor. She's still wearing her helmet.

"You idiot, I told you to stay out," I mutter into my communicator.

"Bet you're glad I didn't though," she says.

"Get them out of here."

"Got it."

The second drone tries to swipe down, but Amanda takes another heavy swing, scaring it back.

It's time for me to deal with my arm. I Shift all of my weight on to my elbow, And slammed both legs in my free arm against the mechanical tentacle pressing down on me. It budges just enough for me to slide my arm from underneath the claw. Before she can react, I launched a string of wedding at the ceiling behind her. I zip line through the air, stiffened my legs, and have myself perfectly poised to kick her in the face. My fight with Robo Octavius taught me how to clear the arcs of the tentacles. As long as I get close, she won't be able to stop in time.

My leg is less than 6 inches away from her went both of her arms come up and catch my foot. She is surprisingly steady in her stance, even as I leverage my spider strength against her.

"Unlike many of your other enemies, I don't rely on tricks. This suit is useful, but when it comes down to it this is a battle between two women. I have prepared everything. I have trained my body, my mind, and my technology to reach my goals. Do you think you have resolve equal to mine?"

I use my other foot to kick her arms, loosening it and enough to get my foot free. When I land, I release a six hit combination that Amanda made me memorize forever ago. The blows are fast and furious, but Croix he deflects them all. She returns with a three hit pattern, her fists swift and deliberate. My spider senses are faster than her hands, but I forget about the tentacles, and feel one clamp around my ankle. She sends me skyward, flinging me like a rag doll.

I stiffen my core muscles, rotate myself around, and land on the ceiling. I look down at the ballroom. Amanda and the Cavendish family gone. But Croix has used her arms to raise herself high in the air. Based on the length of the extended arms, I know she can reach me from here with her other two.

But that's what she wants me to think, I realize. Octavius Bot had taught me a lot about fighting the tentacles, but was that part of the plan? What if she had designed it so that I learned how to fight it, just so she could switch up the tactics later? I have to fight smart, not hard. When the other arm reaches up to swipe at me, I don't follow my instincts to leap down at her, and use all of my weight, momentum, and gravity to hit her. Instead, I use a web to zip across the ceiling, closer to the center of the ballroom.

"You're more clever than I gave you credit for," she mocks.

"I'm just getting started," I say. I fire three webs from each arm, making them as strong and taut as possible - I have so much tension in them I'm worried they're going to snap. The webs are aimed at the floor below her, and she looks at them with a dismissive sneer.

"You're going to throw yourself at me again? Don't you learn?"

"I did. Hey, since you've been in Nova York city, have you had a chance to see any shows? How about Phantom of the Opera?"

I jump back, and put my plan in action. I attach all six web lines to the base of the chandelier. With one solid strike of my fist, the chandelier is detached from the ceiling. The webs hurl the gorgeous thing at Croix. The light flickers, and electrical sparks fly.

Croix isn't prepared for a chandelier to come shooting at her. She tries to draw her claws in, but it's too late. The sound is tremendous - thousands of individual pieces of glass and crystal shatter on the ballroom floor. Croix is thrown to the ground, sprawled out and completely defenseless.

I land on the ground and continue my attack. A couple of weblines shoot out and I have the large box, the one she kept her suit in, under my control. It's heavy, and takes a couple of revolutions to pick up the speed I need. The moment Croix has gathered her senses and picked herself up, I hurl the box at her.

It's a perfect hit. She's thrown into the wall and pinned against it.

I rush to contain her, spraying as much webbing as I can on both her and the box. Webbing is incredibly strong, but I know her arms are too. I can't let her have any room to maneuver, any space to gather momentum.

My spider sense goes crazy. My eyes shoot down to my left hand, but I don't see anything. I know I'm in danger, but from what?

When  I understand, it's too late. Croix sent a single filament from her suit up along my webbing line and connected it to my hand. She sends out a tremendous amount of electricity through the filament and directly into my body. I convulse, lose control of my body, and fall to the ground. The pain is icy and tingling, as if a thousand microscopic daggers are trying to dig their way out of my body.

The world is dim and noisy for a few moments. I can hear her tear herself out of the webbing and toss the box aside. She looms above me just as I start to get my senses about me.

"I told you, I am not like others you have fought. I prepared intensely for this moment, Shiny-Spider. But I prepared for the other Shiny-Spider. I prepared for Chariot. I was her partner, and I knew all of her tricks, her strength, and her skill. She was much, much better than you are. So believe me when I tell you that this battle is a bit of a disappointment."

She stops her monologuing to look up at the ceiling.

"The roof," she mutters. Suddenly, I'm not that interesting to her anymore. She turns and lumbers for the giant window on the side of the ballroom, and uses on tentacle to shatter to whole thing. There's a flash of lightning and the howl of wind. It must have started raining while we were battling. Water comes streaking in.

She steps through the broken window to climb the wall.

I scramble to my feet and I latch a web to the window frame. I swing out into the rain after Croix, shooting past her to land on the roof.

Diana is there.

"What are you doing here?!" I demand.

"I need to get this before she does!" she yells back. I examine what she's doing. Diana is standing near the edge of the roof, hanging off one of the unicorn-gargoyles. She's pulling on the unicorn's horn.

I realize that that particular unicorn isn't all stone - the horn seems to be made of some sort of crystal.

"Thank you for leading me right to it, Miss Diana," Croix says. It's only then that I realize the drone that Amanda didn't destroy is floating above us, probably giving Croix a constant feed of what's going on. The drone returns to her back at the same moment one of her claws comes streaking forward for Diana.

I jump and kick it out of the way. Another one comes for her, and I spin to catch the blow.

Right in my face.

Hot pain streaks across me. My face is cut from the claw, and the impact has me dizzied. I hear the claw hit the unicorn, hear the stone crumble and Diana scream.

_Thwip, thiwp._

Lightning flashes. The rain is pouring down over both of us.

The stone unicorn hits the ground and turns into a thousand pebbles.

I'm hanging from the side of the manor with one web while the other one holds onto Diana. She's holding onto the unicorn's crystal horn.

"Akko?!"

I realize that the sensation of liquid on my cheeks isn't just blood, it's rain.

My mask is gone.

"I got you, it's okay," I tell her.

"I've been kissing…you?" she stammers. Her cheeks are red. Mine are too.

"Y-yeah, well…"

"You're the Shiny-Spider?"

"Yes," I say.

"Then I guess I…love you?"

"Can we talk about our relationship later?" I ask. She nods.

"I'm going to lower you down, find Amanda and-"

A hard metal pressure closes around my wrist. Croix yanks me back up to the roof, and Diana along with me. Croix moves with lethal efficiency. Three of her claws take me, pinning both arms and my throat into the roof. The other grabs Diana, tossing her to the rooftop.

"Give me the stone!" Croix demands.

"No!" Diana curls herself into a ball, holding the stone close to her belly.

"Foolish girl!"

The claw picks up Diana and slams her on the roof.

"Diana, let it go!" I yell. I pull all of my panic and rage into my muscles, willing my spider strength to pry these claws off of me. I push back, but the claws dig into my throat. I can't breathe.

"Let it go!"

"Never!"

She slams Diana again. Diana still holds onto the stone.

"I need it!"

"You'll never get it!"

_Slam._

_Slam. Slam. Slam. Slam._

_Slam slam slam slam slam slam slam._

I'm barely staying conscious at this point. But I see Diana's body finally go limp. The arm turns her over, and the crystal comes rolling out of her grasp. Croix picks it up with her own hands, and stares at it.

"Yes…yes!"

Her claws retract from me. Before I can sit up, she's already climbing down the wall and back to the ballroom. I need to chase her down and stop her, but I need to get Diana to safety first.

I rush over to her.

"Diana, it's okay, you're going to be okay."

Lightning flashes. Diana's eyes are closed, and a small trickle of blood rolls out of her mouth.

I lean next to her.

"Hey, wake up, you're all right."

I lift her head and cradle her in my arms. Tears are rolling down my cheeks already. My spider sense has already processed the truth, even if I won't admit it yet.

"I know I wasn't what you were expecting under the mask, but it's not so bad, right? I mean I was a pretty good kisser. You even said you loved me just now. I mean, it was a question, but you still said it."

I brush her hair out of her face and clean the bit of blood from her mouth.

"We could be happy. I mean, if you're okay with the whole super hero thing. I know it could take getting used to. But you know my secret, and I know yours. That's pretty big in a relationship, don’t you think?"

She says nothing. She does nothing.

She doesn't even breathe.


	16. Goodbye, Diana Cavendish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko mourns.

I'm sitting in my bedroom, and I don't remember how I got here.

It feels like the last two days of been a blur. I can't remember any specific action, just passing images. I remember having to take Diana's body off the roof, placing it carefully on the ballroom floor. I remember having to call in to the police, fleeing the scene before they got there. I remember going to the funeral, sitting with my classmates, being sad, but trying to not be too sad. After all, I, as Akko, didn't know Diana that well.

I never spent time with her. I never kissed her.

Only Shiny-Spider did all of that.

I feel so numb. The ache in my chest is so profound, I'm not sure anything is ever going to fix it. I've never lost anyone before. Losing someone like her, who I was just beginning to get to know, who stirred feelings in me I never had before, is too much. It’s not fair.

And it's all my fault.

I try not to relive those moments again and again, but I can't help it. I keep wondering if I had done something different, moved faster, fought smarter, that maybe somehow she would still be alive. Lotte has told me again and again that that sort of thinking doesn't help, and that it isn't my fault. It was Diana who made all of her decisions, and those decisions lead her to that moment in time.

She's right, of course. It doesn't make the pain any easier.

Speaking of Lotte, she's sitting right next to me on my bed. She has been my silent companion through all of this, not pushing her opinionsunless I ask for them, freely giving hugs when I need them, and just sitting by me in the quiet grief. I don't know why she is doing so much for me, but I know I don't deserve a friend like this.

“You should really eat something, “she says.

“When was the last time I ate?”

“I think it was before you went on the mission. Two days ago.”

“That's a record for me,” I say with a laugh.

She smiles, and rubs her hand tenderly on my shoulders.

“Does that mean you'll go down to the cafeteria with me?”

“No. I think I need to go out for a while.”

“Do you think that's a good idea?”

“It's probably not. But there's some people I need to talk to as Shiny-Spider. “

“I’ll go with you.”

“No. I need to do this alone.”

“You don't have to keep doing everything alone.:

“I think it might be better that way. Look at the one person that tried to get close to. She's dead now. Maybe you should get far away for me too.”

“Don't say things like that.?

“I’m just trying keep you safe.” I pull on my suit, including the replacement mask that the team built me. I slide open a window and cling on to the wall. Part of me wondered if I was even going to be able to use my spider powers again. I haven't used them since that night.

“I promise that one of my stops will be something to eat. Now stop worrying about me.”

I swing out into the night. My first stop is actually very close, I just want to go up and talk to Ursula. She is sitting in her wheelchair on the balcony of her quarters, which doesn't surprise me at all. It seems like she's waiting for me.

“How are you holding up?”

“Terrible,” I say.

“That's about what I figured,” she says. “It's never easy when someone dies. It's even harder when it's someone you know.”

“I should quit,” I say.

“I told you that before, but that was to prevent anyone from getting hurt. Now, it's too late. You can't quit. You need to see this through, at least until there's justice for Diana.”

“Justice doesn't make her alive again.”

“No, but it gives her death meaning. And it tells the world, the universe, and every villain that might be watching that they cannot take life without it being avenged. It tells them that the Shiny-Spider we'll always bite back.”

“I should've listened to you. This is too hard.”

“It's not. You can do this. I think you may actually be better than I was at your age. But you're also going through something much harder than I ever did. It was years before someone died during one of my fights, and it was someone I didn't know that well. The first time I did lose someone I cared about…”

She drifts off and doesn't finish the sentence.

“How am I supposed to deal with this? Are there like therapists for superheroes?”

“Not that I'm aware of. But you can always share how you're feeling with me. And I'm sure your friends are going to help as much as they can. But the sad truth is, there are a lot of things you're going to have to bear alone. No one in the world quite understands what it's like to be us. I wish I could do more.”

“No, thank you,” I say. “You really have been a help. I'm not quite ready to talk about everything yet, but when I am, I'll find you.”

“I’ll be here when you're ready.”

 

—

 

I spend most of the day swinging around the city. I don't know if there's any crime to fight, I'm not looking for it. I try to get lost in the swinging motion, the up, the down, the pull of gravity, and the thrill of escape. It doesn't help. All I can think of is the swing trip I took with her.

I fulfill my promise to Lotte and pick up a couple sandwiches for dinner. I am ravenous at this point, and eat every last crumb. It's a lonely meal, but the food makes me feel a little more human again.

Just human enough to feel a new stab of grief.

I go back to the cemetery. Before, when everyone else was there, I had to act sad but distant. Now, I can kneel at the family crypt. The word CAVENDISH is chiseled in capital letters. Inside the chamber are the bodies of so many of Diana's ancestors. Her tomb is marked with a shiny plaque, with dozens of flowers and mementos place around it. I can pick out the tiny charms that Hannah and Barbara left behind. They were crying so much I wondered if they we're going to have an asthma attack.

Above Diana's grave is her mother’s, and above that, father’s. At least now they could be together. It was a small comfort.

I peel off my mask.

“Hi,” I say.

The tomb says nothing.

“I’m really, really sorry. This isn't how it was supposed to happen. I was supposed to be the superhero, the person that saved you every single time. I don't know how you would've liked being the damsel in distress, but I would've liked to try with you. I feel so grateful for the small amount of time we had together. I learned a lot about myself. And I'm not ready to let go.”

I finally break down. I cry harder than I've ever cried before. It's like every single muscle in my body is in agony, trying to tear itself apart just so I don't have to feel this pain anymore. I know it's stupid. I'm crying on the ground with my mask off. Anyone could hear me and check on me, and that would be that.

Then again, who cares?

Croix already knows my identity. I think she always knew. I don't know why she isn't taking me down though. Maybe she really is only interested in battling the Ursula.

By the time my crying is done, I feel better, but spent. I'm not sure how long I've been laying there on the floor, but I managed to pick myself up. I sniffle, rub my eyes, and then lean forward to kiss Diana's grave.

“Sorry, that was really embarrassing. I have to go now, but I'll be back soon, I promise.”

I pull on my mask, and stepped out of the graveyard.

As if on cue, I get it call.

“What is it?” I ask.

“Constanze is done analyzing the plans,” Amanda says. She, too, has been sad and down since that evening. Apparently Diana had given Amanda the slip in all the commotion. Amanda does a better job of hiding her guilt than I do.

“Any ideas?”

“I believe the power source was just the final component. That, and the focusing crystal she retrieved from the Cavendish residence,” Constanze said.

“We did a little research on it. That Crystal is one of the purest lenses in existence, and it is of an unusual shape. I don't understand all the science mumbo-jumbo, but apparently it's a big deal.”

“The device she's trying to build,” Constanze says, “is a multidimensional manipulator.”

“What does that do?”

“Pretty much but it sounds like a does,” Amanda says. “It can manipulate dimensions, make portals and connections between our world and alternate universes. Constanze also thinks that he can manipulate time.”

My eyes light up. “Time travel?”

“I’m not certain,” Constanze says. “It could, but I don't think it is designed for that. It is more designed for entering the multi-verse.”

“The multi-verse, as in the theory that there are infinite permutations of everything, and that somewhere along this infinite multi-verse that there's a version of me that's nothing but a talking piece of pizza?”

“Precisely.”

“But why?”

“It doesn't say in the plans. But Croix has all the pieces now. She can initiate her device at anytime.”

“Okay, I'm heading back to the hideout. Meet me there. We have a way of tracking it?”

“Yes, thanks to the tritium. I managed to get access to some of Luna Nova’s satellites. I should be able to find it within the hour.”

“Constanze, you have to be one of the most amazing young women I've ever known.”

“Hey, I helped too!” Amanda yells.

“I know you did. You always help.”

“Blah, you're getting sappy on me again.”

“Call all of the girls. This is going to be an important meeting.”


	17. Avenge Hers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko gets some help.

Everyone shows up. Our spider team meetings were usually boisterous and fun. Right now, everyone is solemn. Maybe they're scared.

I know I am.

On the central monitor is a map with a circle that is slowly getting smaller, converging on a single point. The countdown timer says three minutes.

“It looks like it's going to zero in outside of the city,” Sucy says.

“Yes, it's more than likely the abandoned Octavius Science Center. In his heyday, he had an expensive compound for his laboratory,” says Constanze.

“Seems pretty obvious place to hide out to me,” Amanda says. “Could be a trap.”

“I don't think so,” I say. “Really the only thing she needs right now is a quiet place to work. If it weren't for our ability to track the tritium, we probably wouldn't have found her in time.”

“How do we know you’re right?” Amanda asks.

“You don't. Which is why I have to get moving right now.”

“You cannot go by yourself,” Lotte says in protest. “Call the police, call the FBI, call someone to go with you. Didn't you say you had a contact the Police Department?”

“I won't put anyone else's life in danger.”

“That is what the police do, protect others. You don't have to take this on by yourself!”

I'm startled at how upset Lotte is. Sucy walks over to put her hands on her shoulder and try to calm her down.

Constanze turns around in her chair and stares at me deliberately.

“Lotte is correct. You cannot go by yourself, the satellites are picking up multiple energy sources that are consistent with the type use by Croix's robotics. She will have defenses in place. Even if you could get a around them, which I'm sure you could, it would take you too long.”

“I agree with you Akko, that the cops can't get involved. They won't know what they're getting into,” Amanda says. “But we know.”

“No, no way,” I say.

“It's too late. It's been decided,” says Jasminka. She towers over me, and despite my spider strengths, I still feel a little intimidated by her. “We will go with you to fight the robots, you go in and stop Croix.”

“Jasminka, you're very strong, but you aren’t stronger than a machine. And Amanda, you're too much of a daredevil.”

“That bitch took one of our friends! I know you're hurting right now, but so are we. Diana was part of Luna Nova, she was part of us. It could have been any one of us who died, and if you think for one fucking minute that I'm going to stand here and watch you risk your life, then you don't know me at all,” Amanda says.

“We will avenge her,” Constanze says. “And we will not do it unprepared.”

She hits a switch on her computer keyboard, and one of the walls of our dingy basement hideout moves away. I didn't even know she had done that. Inside the wall is something like an armory. Amanda walks over to it, and claims a staff, a helmet with a visor and a jumpsuit similar to mine, but colored red. Jasminka puts on a jumpsuit herself, she also has a helmet, all colored green.

In the center of the armory is a very complicated configuration of machinery that vaguely looks human shape. Constanze steps in front of it and turns around. Individual pieces float off of the wall and automatically attach themselves to her. Unlike Amanda and Jasminka, her suit is incomplete. It has gauntlets and boots, and a modified chest piece that has a glowing blue core of some kind. The core lights up, and the palms of her hand light up in response.

“I wish I had more time to finish this, but it'll have to do,” Constanze says.

“It'll be enough,” Amanda says. “All we’re going to do is smash robots. We’ll let the actual superhero stop the super villain.”

I want to yell more protest at them. I really don't think they know what they're getting themselves into. But I can't help but feel my heart filled. My friends are there for me in my darkest moment. How can I turn that down?

“One more going away present,” Sucy says. She opens up a small metal briefcase which contain it four white spheres. The spheres are no bigger than the palm of her hand. When she picks it up, she presses a hit and switch and a smaller sphere and eight tiny legs come out. It's some sort of spider, with a bulbous portion that reminds me of a black widow, but instead of being black with a red hourglass, it's white with a red cross sign. She tosses at me, and the spider lands on my shoulder and automatically crawls up to my neck.

“I made a counter agent to the neurotoxin that Croix used during class. Unfortunately, it won't stay in your body very long, so it has to be injected into you at the point of exposure. That little spider will detect when the gas is present, and then automatically inject it into you.”

“Dude, you mean this little spider has to sit on my neck the whole time?” Amanda asks.

“I guess I didn't have to make it a spider, but I wanted to be thematically appropriate,” Sucy says with a cunning grin.

“Thank you Sucy. And thank all of you. We better get going.”

“Lotte and I will stay here and monitor the situation from the control room,” Sucy says. “All the helmets have comms.”

“I have a car,” Amanda says. “Just don’t ask where I got it.”

My three avengers start heading up the stairs, but I away and look at Lotte. She's terrified, I can tell.

“I’m sorry,” I say.

She shakes her head.

“Don't be. This is for you are. I admire that about you.”

I rush over and give her a tight hug, then I run up the stairs. We exit through the back maintenance entrance of the school, and find a red Camaro parked in the back. We all climb in and Amanda revs the engine.

“I don't approve of you stealing these things, but you certainly have good taste,” I say.

“Steal them?” Jasminka says, laughing. “She doesn't steal them. Her parents own a car dealership.”

“Jasminka, I told you not to talk about that,” Amanda says.

We all laugh as the Camaro speeds away.

 


	18. Dimensional Dome

“Half a mile until entry point,” Constanze says in our ears. “Comm check.”

“Ready,” says Amanda.

“Ready,” echoes Jasminka.

“Ready,” I say. “All comms are working. When we get to the front, we ditch the Camaro and get over the fence as fast as possible and head straight for the compound. This has to be a quick frontal assault. If it gets too thick for you guys, fall back. If they’re chasing you out while they’re chasing me in, it’ll take half of the heat off of me.”

“Psh,” Amanda snorts.

“Please Amanda. This is a tactical decision. If you insist on pushing forward, I can’t hang back and support you. I have to move forward and stop Croix, I have the best chance of doing it.”

“I got your back, Akko. Don’t worry about me.”

“1000 feet to contact,” Constanze says.

The Camaro comes skidding to a halt. Amanda even drifts the car a bit, presenting the right side to the front of the fence. I’m already sitting on the right side, which makes leaping out of it and on to the top of the fence that much easier. When I land at the top, I spin around and _thwip_ Amanda and Jasminka up and over the top. Constanze just rockets herself over with her power boots and power gauntlets. I wonder momentarily how the whole thing works, but I’m sure I can get her to give me a lecture on it later.

Amanda and Jas land perfectly and break into a run. I take the point position, catching up in a few strides. Constanze flies just above us.

“Inbound, three robots,” Constanze reports. She rockets ahead of us, then leans back to float on the two boots. Her hands are no longer boosters, but are instead weapons; energy bolts shriek out of her palms and impact the three scout roombas, shattering them into plastic and metal.

“They know we’re here…” Amanda mutters.

The compound is ahead of us. It’s about twenty years out of date in terms of architecture, but it still has a modern, curved feel to it. Lots of smooth surfaces and glass, though some of the vegetation has overgrown on the steps and railings. I can see a few lights on.

“Contact,” Constanze reports. She soars above us and starts again with her fire. The robot that she’s attacking is different than the roombas - these are large cylinders with a single eye. The first cylinder bot is being crumpled under Constanze weapons, but a second one is hovering into position. A panel on its side opens up, revealing a barrel of a weapon.

“Kya!”

Amanda’s staff cracks the weapon straight off of the robot. The cylinder turns to face her, but she already has the staff shoved into the open panel, and she’s leaning on it like a crowbar. A side panel pops off the robot completely, exposing the inner circuitry. A quick punch and grab and Amanda is tearing its computerized guts out.

A third cylinder appears, but Jasminka is already on it. The bodybuilder wraps her powerful arms around it and hefts the machine above her head before smashing it into the ground.

The thing has to be the size of refrigerator! I make a note to myself to not challenge Jas to any more arm wrestling matches.

Constanze has finished demolishing her first cylinder and has moved on to taking shots at roombas that have arrived. Two more cylinders have arrived and deploy their guns.

My friends were doing really well.

But I’m still the superhero.

 _Thwip, thwip_.

I snag two of the roombas and pull. The cylinders have turned to train their gun barrels towards me, but the roombas come crashing down on them like rounded robotic guillotines. The roombas sever the gun barrels , and then smash against the ground, destroyed. The cylinders right side panels open and reveal a small buzzsaw, which starts shrieking. I web up the right one and pull it towards my left, dragging its buzzsaw into its partner’s chassis. The left side robot turns to extricate itself from being sawed, and inadvertently saws the right one across the face.

 _Click click click_. I aim my webbing at the robot’s wounds and _thwip_ it in. I had set my left launcher to taser webbing, and the eletrical current is enough to shut both robots down. I reset my webslinger and then send myself skyward, onto the roof of the compound.

If I’m right, a pretentions place like this should totally have a glass ceiling and skylight…yep, there it is.

“Fall back everyone, I’m going in,” I say.

“No way, there aren’t that many robots! We’re pushing through too!”

“Just fall back!” I order. I don’t have time to argue, I need to stop Croix. I step onto the glass dome and peer below.

The device is much smaller than I expected - just that strange dome-shaped backpack. Except now something has been deployed on it, and energy is streaming from every direction out of its emmiter. The light is every color imaginable colliding into a chromatic kaleidoscope. If it weren’t for the lenses on my suit, I’m not sure I’d be able to look at it.

Croix seems uninterested in the light show. She has a tablet in her hand, goggles on her eyes, and her attention is directed fully at the screen. She must be monitoring something.

Which means that this thing is in a fragile state.

I smash the glass and swing in, aiming my feet for Croix’s tablet. I expect her to look up in panic or rage or something, but she never takes her eyes off of he tablet.

One of her arms does reach out and swat me, though.

I spin from the impact and land perfectly on the wall.

“You Shiny-Spiders are so drolly predictable. You can’t help but smash through a glass ceiling.”

“Shut it down, Croix!”

“You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, Ms. Kagari. In fact, I might say that none of this is your business.”

“You killed Diana!” I shriek. I’m surprised at the rage and emotion in my voice, but I do nothing to hide it. Maybe a little humanity would shake her out of her trance.

“ _You_ killed her. I had no intention of harming her or any of the Cavendishes, but you were the one that took my lens. Had you not been there, I would’ve easily retrieved it, and been on my way.”

“Don’t put this one me. You’ve manipulated everything and everyone around you so that you could do what? Achieve a scientific breakthrough? I _loved her!_ And now she’s dead! She will never experience another wonderful thing again, ever!”

She looks up at me. One of her tentacles reaches down and raises her goggles to her forehead.

“I understand you better than you think I do, Miss Kagari. And if I can make this work, I might be able to ease your pain as well as mine. This isn’t about a scientific breakthrough. It’s about making right what was made wrong. It’s about having the will to do what must be done to achieve your goals. If I told you that I could help bring Diana back, but the cost of it was the life of someone you barely knew, would you pay it?”

“No. Never.”

She sighs. “Idealism. That’s the chasm that separates us. It was the chasm that separated Chariot and I, as well. But ideals mean nothing if living by them only creates pain. Now go away, Akko, before I have to kill you too.”

I throw myself at her.

Her tentacles converge to intercept me, but I’m ready for it. The first one grabs for my stomach, but my hands are there, spraying webbing into the claws. The claw hits my belly, but the fingers are locked in place, preventing it from gripping me. The impact propels me faster, which throws off the aim of the second tentacle swiping at me.

I zip web to a point behind her head, and pull to send myself flying at her face. Two of her tentacles come in front of her in an X shape, then strike me with all the force their mechanical engines can generate. I take the strike full on.

Which is what I want.

The blow sends me flying and spinning, but my spider-senses are working on overdrive, and I have my goal in mind. I snag a bit of webbing onto the floor and use it to tug myself downward onto the dimensional dome.

I kick it.

Something gets knocked loose, though I’m not sure what. The multicolored light comes exploding outward in tight streams of lightning-like energy that slice through the air. They aren’t hot, but my spider-senses are screaming at me to stay away from them.

“What are you doing, you idiot!”

Croix lumbers forward and one tentacle quick grabs the components. While I mostly encountered the tentacles as powerful tools of destruction, I knew they were also dextrous tools. I could see the claws moving with incredible precision to repair the damage I just did.

“Guess I’ll just kick it some more,” I say.

Another tentacle comes at me, and I jump over it, then use the momentum from my jump to kick down on the dome again. More energy comes flaring out, and Croix’s second tentacle now has to do damage control.

We meet eyes.

She’s decided to kill me now, I can see that. She understands that there isn’t a way to get me to stop other than ending my life. It’s not as vengeful or wrathful as you would expect. It’s a quiet, resigned look.

Something behind me explodes.

I turn and see Constanze flying up into the air, unleashing her energy bolts down at Croix. Croix is quick on the moment, though, and dodges herself out of the way, moving in awkward motions that make aiming more difficult.

“Shut it off, you crazy bitch!”

Amanda.

She has leapt slipped underneath one of the tentacles, then jump onto the arm and used it like a gymnast’s bar. She flips up and over and lands on top of the arm, a couple of arms’ lengths away from Croix’s face.

It’s close enough for her staff.

She crashes it into Croix. I think I see a tooth fly out, and blood sprays across her pristine lab coat.

Croix turns about and is about to aim a tentacle at Amanda when her balance is shifted. Nearby, Jasminka has grabbed the one tentacle holding her to the ground and pulled. Croix loses control and falls, the tentacles retracting rapidly back to her apparatus.

“I don’t understand you girls…” Croix mutters. “Why are you doing this?”

“For Diana,” Amanda says, defiant.

“Wrongs cannot go unanswered,” Jasminka says.

“I couldn’t agree more. That is why I must do this. You…those of you in my way right now. You’re just part of the test. You are fates pawns, testing my resolve, questioning whether or not I have the will to do what needs to be done.”

She rises up on two tentacles to her full height.

“I do.”

One snaps out at Jas. The Russian is strong and fast and she catches the end of the claw in her two hands, but Croix is waiting for that. The claw snaps open and sprays out a thick green gas. Jas chokes on it and loses her grip, falling forward. The tiny spider on her back blinks its eyes and bites into her neck to deliver the antidote.

But Jas doesn’t move.

“Jasminka!” Amanda yells. She runs in a blind attack at Croix, but the retracting the tentacle claw is already on the perfect arc.

The sharp edges slash across Amanda’s eyes.

The staff drops to the ground. She puts her palms at her eyes, but blood is waterfalling through her fingers.

“Fuck! Fuck, I can’t see!”

I hear the power up of Constanze’s weapons, but Croix is ready for that too. One claw had returned to the dimensional dome, but instead of repairing it, made an adjustment to let one of those multicolored blasts of lightning out of it.

The bolt strikes Constanze in the chest.

She falls to the ground, a smoking black mark right where her heart should be.

I let out a cry of pure rage and sadness. Not even my accelerated thinking can help me think of a battle cry or a quip. I’m lost in the pure passion of this moment.

I have to kill her.

She won’t stop unless she’s dead.

I wonder if my face looks like hers did when she made the same decision.

I don’t know how we fight. It’s pure instinct, a flurry of metal and fists and spider web, each of us moving faster and smarter, each of us looking for an opening to end the other. I hit her jaw. She bruises my throat. I kick her in the chest. She slashes at my shoulder.

My spider-sense goes off.

There’s a whine of power.

A blast erupts from Constanze’s hand, aimed directly at the dimensional dome.

Energy fills the room. The whole world is that chromatic kaleidoscope, and I can barely keep track of anything, even with my spider-senses.

Croix is above me, claw poised to stab me in the chest.

Then the Shiny-Spider swoops in and kicks her.

“Ursula?!”

She turns and gives me a nod.

“My friends!”

She nods, and leaps upward, snapping out more webbing to catch each of them, pulling them to safety. The energy is changing again, pulling closer to the dimensional dome.

Croix is above it, using all tentacles and her hands to repair it.

I jump on her back and snap web to the ground, pushing her on top of the dome.

“You idiot! This thing is unstable, if I don’t fix it-”

“It’ll explode? Fine by me. We can both die.”

I shut my eyes.

Diana, I’m coming.

The world seems to turn inside out.

And then…I’m falling?

My vision is blurry, and I want to throw up.

But I see skyscrapers around me.

And rain. So much rain.

And the sky and the clouds.

And I’m falling.

Falling.

falling.


End file.
